Back
by curiosity-driven
Summary: Peter Johnson is the CEO of IntelliBuild, a revolutionary construction company and is happily married with two kids. Though, when Aphrodite appears in his office with a message from the gods, Peter is forced back into the life of Percy Jackson. As his kids grow up, their curiosity is sparked by two questions. Why did he leave? And what secrets is Percy still keeping?
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own anything. And Percabeth will happen...just be patient.**

* * *

"Mr. Johnson?" Peter Johnson's assistant, Steve, said from the doorway of the massive office. "There is a woman here that she has an appointment, but I don't have her down on your schedule for today. Shall I tell her to come tomorrow?"

Peter looked away from his oversized Mac desktop that was filled with new designs for future building projects. Peter glanced at the time, nearly 3:00, noting he had a board meeting soon. This would have to be quick.

"Sure, bring her in." Peter answered.

Peter quickly saved the designs and speed checked the 300 new emails that piled up in his inbox. It was starting to get late, Peter hoped his wife would be off of work soon so the babysitter could go home. Their sitter was a girl name Millie who was a junior in high school who always took the job when needed. Peter knew it was a lot to ask for her to stay out late on a Thursday night. He always felt bad when his work time over flowed into his family time, but at the end of the day, the job needs to be done.

"Right this way Miss." Steve said as he reopened the door.

"Thank you Steve." Said the woman.

Her sing-song voice was smooth like honey, melting as every word dripped from her mouth. Peter knew that voice. His attention was dragged away from his computer and the image of perfection standing before him. Her perfectly curved body looked like it was made to fit the business suit that she somehow made look sexy. Her presence attracted everything to her, especially Steve who was still ogling at her. Peter shot him a look and he left the office, shutting the door behind him.

"I am amazed that you took my unannounced appointment, Perseus." She said, looking around the large corner office. "Well, it's not like I would take 'no' for an answer anyways."

Peter stood up out of his chair, wincing at his true name. "What are you doing here? You took an oath Aphrodite." Anger that he hadn't felt in years filled his veins.

"Calm down hero. Where are your manners? Are you going to ask me to sit? Or for some coffee? I have had a rather long day, coffee would be marvelous."

"Why are you here?" Peter asked.

A steaming mug of coffee appeared in Aphrodite's hands as she walked over to the floor to ceiling windows that made up the back wall of Peter's office. Anyone looking through them could see the beautiful view of downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The sun was setting, the city lights were turning on. The desert was lighting up.

"Why so cold Mr. Jackson? Or should I say, Mr. Johnson?"

"You didn't answer my question." Peter's patience was growing smaller and smaller every second the goddess was in his office.

"Fine." She said, turning to him, a coy smile formed on her ruby red lips. "The Olympians and I have decided to break the oath. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do since... well put it delicately, we're gods and you're not to, which was your choice."

"_You're breaking the oath_?"

"Gods break oaths all the time Peter, if we didn't you would not be here. I am simply saying, it is time for you to become Percy Jackson again." Aphrodite said forcefully.

"This is ridiculous, why are _you_ telling me this? Why isn't Poseidon here, he _is_ my father." Peter almost regretted saying that as soon as he said it.

"Well if you would recall, it was _you_ who basically decided you didn't want to be his son anymore. Besides, Poseidon doesn't _do_ deserts. Phoenix, Arizona is not a very convenient place for the god of the sea." The love goddess chided. She cocked her head to the side, "You must be so weak here. We can fix that though."

Peter stuck his hands in his suit pocket and thought about his family. He looked out the window with Aphrodite, thinking about the building he was standing in, the one he helped create. She was right though, he was weak. Living in the desert made him tired, and created wrinkles on his face that would go away if he were by the sea.

"I'm very sorry Aphrodite," He said gently and slowly, "I can't go back. I have a family now, a responsibility. I can't have anything bad happen to them."

"We thought you might say that. You have one week to go back to Olympus. If you don't show, the gods will be forced to send someone to haul you all the way the New York. I would hate to stay around find out who or _what_ it is if I were you."

"You can't do this to me!" Peter shouted as he pounded his fist on his wooden desk.

"Calm down, there's a branch of your company right there in Manhattan. Remember, one week."

Peter was going to say something but he blinked and she was gone. He was the CEO of IntelliBuild, he was responsible for many innovative and revolutionary high rises in metropolitan areas all over the globe. He had an amazing family. Peter had no time for running deathly errands for the gods anymore. He left that life a long time ago, vowing never to go back and making the gods promise on the River Styx that he would be left alone, and shrouded by the mist from any monster that would possible attack him or his family. Peter had left Olympus, and never went back. He only went to New York for his mother, and for the occasional business trip. But he stayed away from the Empire State Building.

Peter's family and wife had no idea about his past, just that he grew up in New York, and moved to Arizona after he graduated from high school. He didn't know how they would react to the family tree. All Peter's wife, Veronica, knew about his father is that he was lost at sea when Peter was young. The same story that Peter knew as a child.

When Peter arrived at home later that night, he found his thirteen year old son, Chris, watching a crime show. Peter sat down next to him, still in his work clothes. Chris looked at him, then back at the TV.

"Mom and Cassie got into a fight, again." Chris said rolling his eyes. "Oh, and theres a left over burger in the fridge."

Chris was a soft-spoken kid, he had a lot of thoughts buzzing around in his head and the only way he could get them out was playing baseball. The new baseball season would start in a couple weeks and the local high school coaches had promised a spot on the JV team, which was huge because Chris was only an eighth grader. The ladies also loved his brown hair and unique blue-green eyes, but Chris was too quiet to take too much interest in them. He had spent a year beefing up for baseball, so he could be bigger, faster, and stronger than the season this year. There weren't many kids that were as strong as Chris.

"Thanks bud." Peter said, ruffing up Chris's hair.

Peter left the couch and climbed the stairs to his daughter's room and knocked on the door.

"I'm not here!" Cassie, Chris's twin yelled.

"Just checking!"

Peter moved down the hall to his own bedroom. Veronica was buried in the plush covers of their king sized bed, facing away from him. Peter quickly changed into pajamas and slid into the bed next to her. Veronica was a gentle woman with brown hair and amber eyes. She was tall but not too tall. She was very intelligent, a cardiovascular surgeon at the Phoenix branch of the Mayo Clinic. She worked long hours like Peter, but they always made time for family.

"Is everything alright?" Peter said gently.

Veronica was sitting upright watching TV, under the covers on the bed. A pained looked was in her eyes.

"Chris told me you and Cassie got into another fight."

"She's so difficult." Veronica said, "It's like everything I say goes straight through her. Have you seen her grades? She has three Cs. If she keeps this up she won't be able to dance but she just doesn't understand that."

The Johnson parents did not pride themselves on having children with straight As on their report cards. As and Bs were the grades allowed on their report cards anything below a B- was unacceptable.

"She's a teenager," Peter said gently, sitting on the edge of the bed, undoing his tie. "And she's dyslexic. It took me a long time until my dyslexia started to wear off."

"I _know _she's dyslexic. And I want her to dance but the dance studio won't let her dance if her GPA is below a 3.0. The end of the quarter is coming up soon. Cassie needs to understand that she needs to spend more time studying, and less time on the phone with her friends."

"I'll talk to her tomorrow, I'll try the sympathy approach."

Veronica paused, "Maybe it's us. Maybe we're not spending enough time with the kids and this is Cassie's way of acting out."

Peter stroked his wife's cheek, "You should go to sleep, I'll handle it. Tomorrow is a new day. I'll make sure Chris gets to bed at a decent time."

Peter stumbled down the stairs and onto the couch next to his son who was watching cops. The weight of the day slapped him in the face, especially Aphrodite's words. He hadn't seen a god, or anything from his past life in 20 years. Peter Johnson changed his name from Percy Jackson when he was 18, he left the gods behind to succeed in living a normal life. He hadn't seen the ocean for years. He lucked out that Veronica had a near death experience in the Gulf Coast when she was a teenager and had no desire to go back. The middle of the desert might not have suited Percy Jackson very well, but it was home to Peter Johnson.

"Did you want to watch something else?" Chris asked, but Peter was in a daze. "Dad?"

"Oh," Peter said, coming back. "Um, this is fine."

Peter wondered what would happen in a week when he wasn't at Olympus. There was no way he was going, he wasn't a puppet anymore. He was nearly 40, and had a family to worry about. Peter never remembered any adults jumped in to help save the day. When Percy was granted a second wish from the Olympic Council, it was that he could live a life free of all things Ancient, no gods or monsters. They swore on the River Styx that they would not intervene. Obviously it didn't mean anything.

When the 10 o'clock news came on, Peter told Chris to go to bed, but he himself stayed to watch, a story caught his attention. He listened as the male news anchor spoke.

"Over the past few days, a group of rogue teenagers have been terrorizing a small town an hour out of New York City, on the Hudson River. The group seems to be at least fifty people strong ranging from the ages of 13 to 18. Investigators seem to think that this disabled man is their leader." They cut to a grainy photo of a man in a wheelchair looking to his right.

The man had curly brown hair and a scruffy beard. Peter knew who he was, but he didn't want to believe it. "Authorities in New York think that this man has kidnapped, or lured in runaway kids and brainwashed them to stand against the law."

Peter snapped off the TV, troubled by what he had just seen. He ran his ands through his loose hair. Thunder rumbled overhead, Peter checked the sky out the window. The stars were shining through the light pollution of Phoenix, no thunderheads in sight. But Peter knew better, it was a warning. It was his decision whether to ignore it or not.

It would be so easy to hop on a plane and fly to New York (he could actually fly in that life) to visit his mother and stepfather. Peter would be able to just slip out and go to Olympus to see what was going on. The kids hadn't been to the city for years, and Sally would love them visiting since she and Paul usually flew to Arizona for the holidays.

Except that was exactly what the gods wanted him to think so they could lure him in. He just had to wait this out. They could find another survivor from the War of the Giants to help out. Percy Jackson had to be old news by now. There had to be some new, young, powerful hero out there that could beat his ass if he were still young. Peter had no problem with that. He wanted a replacement so he could move on. It had worked out for years, until then.

Peter turned off the lights and headed upstairs. Once he was ready for bed, Veronica was fast asleep, spread out on the entire bed, and hogging all the covers. He laughed a little, it was one of the reasons he loved her so much. She was adorable when she slept. Peter snatched some of the sheets away from his wife, who was hardly bothered in the process, and curled up next to her.

But his mind stayed restless and he didn't fall asleep for a couple of hours.


	2. Chapter 2

The next week was a breeze, Peter's mind was occupied work and all the complications that come with putting up a knew building. The appearance of Aphrodite slipped his mind, and another week passed. No warning came. No wild thunderstorm rocked Phoenix. Everything was eerily normal. And then Peter got careless.

And then she came.

It was a bright Friday night. The moon was so full that it made the trees cast a shadow. Peter and Veronica had just returned form a dinner date together. It was 9 o'clock, Chris and Cassie were still up watching TV and bickering like siblings always do. Peter was in the kitchen, filling up a glass of water. As he chugged it the doorbell rang.

"I got it!" Chris and Cassie yelled simultaneously.

Peter heard the two scramble to open the door and voice on the other side ask, "Hello, does a Percy Jackson live here?"

Peter set down the glass, his left hand shook, and he walked to the door. As he got to the hall, he heard his son reply, "I don't know any Percy Jackson, but my father is Peter Johnson. Is that any help?"

Peter reached the door and stood behind his children. "Chris, Cassie, why don't you two go do your homework?" He said, and they nodded.

Peter looked at the women before him. Her face was shell shocked, she looked at him like he should have had the same reaction. Instead, anger bubbled. He was looking at a blonde haired women, with startling grey eyes who was five inches shorter than him. She was wearing khaki shorts that fell to her mid thigh, and a white blouse. Her skin was not tanned like he remembered, but her curly brown hair was more taken care of. The woman had on mascara, something that Peter could never remember her wearing.

Her eyes prickled with tears. "I can't believe its you." She embraced him with a hug. Peter's arms hung loosely at his side, not hugging her back. "What's wrong?"

Peter took a deep, shaky breath. "I don't know who or what you are, but please leave my family and I alone."

She looked confused, "It's me, _Annabeth_. Annabeth Chase."

Peter shook his head, "Leave now."

"No." The so-called Annabeth said sternly. "Give me one good reason why I should."

"Because Annabeth Chase died over 20 years ago. So please, if this is some way to get me back to New York, it's sick. Now please leave."

Peter shut the door but at the last minute "Annabeth" stuck her arm in-between the door and forced it to open. Determination spread across her face. Peter noticed a few wrinkles on her face.

"That wasn't me- if you just let me explain!"

"No!" Peter said, the memory of Annabeth's death came flooding back to him. "Get off of my property, and stay away. Tell the gods that this little stint they can guarantee that I will _not_ be returning!"

Peter slammed the door so hard that the whole wall shook. He made sure to lock it too. He immediately went to the kitchen and grabbed a small glass and stormed off into his big study. It was a stereotypical big office with a big wooden desk in it, encyclopedias on the bookshelves for show, a big computer on the corner of the desk. He sat in his huge cushioned wheelie chair and opened the bottom right drawer, bringing out the bottle of Jack Daniels that he kept for emergencies. This definitely counted as an emergency. He poured the amber liquid into his glass then washed it down. Peter rarely drank, you could tell he didn't have many emergencies he had by the way the bottle of Jack was nearly full and eight years old. But Peter had half a mind to just drain the thing right there and then.

Instead he headed downstairs, bringing the bottle with him, and out to the backyard which was a nicely groomed area that was watered green. He went into the shed in the corner of their property. Peter noticed that the stars had been replaced by big clouds. No surprises there. Peter entered the shed and turned the over head light on. He moved over the small table that held all of his tools and bent to the ground. Peter found the loose piece of wood in the floor and removed it, revealing a long wooden box, sitting in the hole.

He lifted it out of the ground and placed it on the table. Peter drew a breath and another swig of whiskey before he opened it. He hadn't opened that box in about a decade, every time he opened it, he could feel Percy wanting to break free. But he opened it anyways. Slowly.

He saw the dusty pictures of his old friends back at camp. He picked up the first faded picture, his hand shaking. It showed Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, Nico, and Rachel in front of a 20 foot bonfire. It was taken just after the Titan War, they all looked so tired yet relieved it was all over. That they were still alive. The next was of Percy and Annabeth together at the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

Annabeth's hair was thrown to one side, she was looking up at Percy, trying not to show how in love with him she was. Percy's sea green eyes practically popping out of this picture as he looked straight at the camera. They were so young. That's all Peter could think of. So wounded and young, and brave, oblivious of their fate.

He set the two pictures down and moved on to the next item. Peter picked up the beaded camp necklace and fiddled with each bead. He only had four, Percy didn't stick around long enough to get the fifth. He had no idea if anyone even bothered to make beads when the Giant War ended. There weren't many campers left...

The last thing in the box always made Peter's heart sink. He looked down at the severed blade of Riptide. It in two pieces, the jagged break about ten inches away from the hilt. All magic escaped when it was broken. It could never kill another monster, defend Percy, or return to pen form again.

Peter found the stool in the shed, pulling it in front of the table, so he could sit. He rested his head on his and and looked back at the picture of Percy and the real Annabeth. He tried to link together the 16 year old Annabeth that he remembered to the version of her he had just seen. But all he could think of was her dead body. His fists clenched. Her death was 100% avoidable. Percy had known her death wasn't his his fault, but always found a way to blame himself. Kind of like Veronica.

Anger flushed through him. The picture of her lifeless grey eyes wide open on the side of the _real_ Mount Olympus, laying in a pool of her own blood, throat slit, knife still in her hand, just wouldn't leave him mind. Peter stood up and swept everything off of the table. The suddenly awakened pull in his gut returned after decades of being dormant.

A roar filled Peter's ears and the sprinkler system in his yard suddenly went off. As soon as Peter realized what had just happened, he willed the sprinklers to shut off. All of a sudden Peter felt incredibly tired, he knew it was because of the lack of water in the desert. It took more energy to summon water from where he was, plus it had a been a while since he last used his powers. Peter sat back on the stool and took a breath.

"I'm not dead you know." Peter jumped and looked at the figure in the doorway of the shed. "Athena... she saved me. When Octavian... when he cut my throat open, when I knew I was going to die...Athena saved me and brought me to Olympus. The Mist covered everything up, the gods faked my death. I haven't left Olympus for years, they told me you were dead too, but eventually I found out the truth. That you left."

Peter looked down at the ground, he probably looked so ridiculous, still in his suit, all dusty now. "Tell me something only Annabeth Chase would know."

The woman stepped into the shed and into the light, closer to Peter. "You drool in your sleep."

Peter almost wanted the women not to be Annabeth. Years of grieving and loneliness, of nightmares and depression to find out that she was actually alive. They had even been on Olympus at the same time, but she was hiding somewhere.

"Go on."

She crossed her arms, "When we were in the Sea of Monsters, you saved me from the Sirens and say my biggest dream: for my family to be together, for Luke to be normal again, and to be one of the best architects in the world. That winter we held up the world together, giving us matching grey streaks that eventually faded. We had our first kiss under Mount St. Helens which you blew up a few minutes later. When you still bore the curse of Achilles, your human spot was on the small of your back. I know that because I took a knife for you. Your fatal flaw is that you would give up your life in order to save a friend's life." Peter didn't say anything. "Believe me now?"

"Show me the scar." She held out her arm and pushed up her sleeve, revealing a sickly green scar. Peter shook his head.

"It's really you." He whispered.

"It's me." Annabeth said with a sad smile.

"Where were you?"

"On Olympus-"

"No." Peter interrupted, getting angry. "Where were you when I had to get over the fact that almost all of my friends were dead? I was hardly 17! Where were you when twenty-one survivors had to burn over a hundred shrouds? Greek and Roman alike."

"Percy-"

"My name is Peter!"

"Peter." She huffed. "You know damn well that I couldn't just leave Olympus and join you, Athena didn't save me because I deserved it, or because I saved her reputation. She saved me because of this moment, right now. We need you. Demigods are dying, they are hopeless. They need a leader, they need someone besides Chiron. They need _you_, _we_ need you."

"If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a kid anymore Annabeth. I'm an old man that sits at a big desk in a big office. I have two kids, a wife. I can't safe the world again." Peter said.

"We're not asking you to save the world Peter. We're asking you to be a _leader_. They're kids with no place to go, no safe place, just like we were."

"What about you? You were more of a leader than I ever was."

Annabeth crossed her arms, "I'm only part of the story Peter. If we want to save these kids, it's going to take more than just Jason, Chiron and I."

"Jason?" Peter asked curiously. "Is he well?"

"He's in better shape now." Annabeth said gravely.

"Where are the gods in this? Mr. D?"

"Ancient laws, the usual BS. Mr. D's sentence was shortened again. He's been gone for a few years now."

The two of them were quiet for a long time. Peter tried to take it all in. Annabeth was alive. She had never even died, so it's not like she had come back from the dead, even it seemed that way. It didn't feel real. Maybe because the person standing before him was a 39 year old woman and not a 16 year old girl.

"Peter." Annabeth said, "How old are your kids?"

Peter looked up,"Uh, they're almost fourteen."

Annabeth scoffed, "And just how long were you going to keep the truth about their bloodline away from them? You know the rules, as I recall it was you who created them. Your kids need to be claimed as Poseidon's grandchildren."

"They're safe. All these years and no attacks, not one sign of a monster. We've all done fine."

"All of that has been shielded from you because it was a part of the oath, but the oath has been broken. Shattered would be a better word to describe it. Over the last two weeks your scent and your children's scent has been building. Are you going to take that risk? Especially with no place for your children to seek refuge."

Peter was silenced.

"That's what I thought." Annabeth paused, "By the way, I spoke to Sally. She agrees with the gods. You spent a lot of time trying to make sure demigods were appreciated and able to survive, now all of that work is down the drain. Do you really want to live with that on your mind?"

Annabeth pulled something out of her pocket and put it on the table. "Here's four plane tickets to New York. Your flight is at 2:00 pm. You'll stay at Sally's, she's expecting you."

"What about you?" Peter asked.

"I'll be around." She said, "I'll see you soon, Percy. I promise I won't disappear."

With that she left the shed. When she was completely gone Peter started to pick everything up and brought the box in the house and upstairs. He put it in his suitcase, it would be coming with them. When Peter was brushing his teeth, Veronica watched from the bathroom entrance, leaning against the door.

"Are you alright?" She asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Something like that." He said under his breath after he rinsed his mouth free of the foamy toothpaste.

Peter turned and started towards his wife, holding her close to him by her hips.

"What if we took a vacation? To New York City. Just for a week, the kids can visit their grandparents. We don't take enough vacations, and Cassie has been begging to go the the city lately." He said.

"I don't know Pete. The kids have school, I don't know if I can take off that much work."

"Say it's a family emergency. I mean, we are in need of a vacation." Family emergency just about summed up the situation.

"I'll se what I can do." Veronica replied.

Peter kissed her on the forehead, "Excellent."


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Peter found himself standing in a New York City high rise apartment building, waiting for his mother to come to the door. Veronica, Chris, and Cassie behind him, suitcases in hand. Peter could hear the locks on the other side unhitching and the door swung open revealing an aged woman with her arms wide open, wearing a smile that stretched across her entire face.

"Peter!" Sally Jackson cried, as she embraced her son. "Veronica, it's so good to see you!"

Grandma Sally gave everyone a big welcoming hug as the Johnson family entered the apartment. Peter gave Paul an awkward hug.

"You're in for a surprise." Paul said to him in a low voice.

"Great." Peter said looking around the apartment, "Always fun to be back."

Sally showed everyone to their rooms. She and Paul had a fairly large, three room apartment with two bathrooms. Peter and Veronica had their own room, and the kids shared another.

As the Johnson family unpacked, Sally pulled Peter aside. "I need you in the kitchen please."

The kitchen was on the opposite side of the apartment, Peter had a feeling that the "surprise" Paul had mentions was in there. He followed his mother into the kitchen. When he saw who was sitting across the table from Paul, Peter wanted to run all the way back to Phoenix.

"Father," Peter said slowly, tensions rising. "What brings you here?"

Poseidon smiled. He looked like Peter remembered. Tommy Bahama shirt with khaki shorts, dark tan and neatly trimmed black beard. His tanned face filled with smile wrinkles. The only problem, Peter's dad looked Peter's age.

"Percy-" Poseidon started.

"It's Peter." He interrupted, earning him a glare from Poseidon. "Sorry."

"_Peter_. I came here to see my son, and my grandchildren that I have never met." Poseidon finished.

Peter ran his hands through his hair, immediately stressed out. His father tended to do that to him. In fact, any god did. Peter wanted to start yelling, but didn't want to risk being reduced to ashes, or a puddle of sea water. Peter hated it, but there was still a teenage kid inside of him that was still afraid of his father.

"Father," Peter started, "They don't exactly know yet. About, everything, I mean. I was going to wait to tell them."

"Well, now would be a perfect time to tell them." Poseidon paused and looked past Percy. "Oh look, this must be your lovely wife, Veronica."

Peter took a deep breath, he caught a glimpse of Paul and Sally who seemed to be doing the same thing. He then turned to his wide who looked genuinely confused as Peter's father, who had risen from his seat, greeted her with a handsome white smile and handshake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Veronica. I have heard many great things about you. I am Poseidon, Peter's father."

Veronica put on her best fake smile, the one she used with difficult patients before a surgery. "His... father?"

She began looking between the two, spotting the many resemblances yet puzzled by the similarity in age. She inched towards Peter's side and whispered, "I thought you said your father passed away?"

"I believe I had said he had been lost at sea. Those are two totally different things." Peter replied.

Veronica turned her attention back to her new-found father-in-law. "So, Poseidon, that is a rather interesting name."

"Thank you, in my opinion it is one of a kind." Poseidon said, "Well, would you mind if I stole your husband away for had a quick word?"

"Not at all, I'm sure you two have plenty of catching up to do."

"I'll be right back." Peter told Veronica.

He moved past her and down the hall that was crowded with family pictures. Memories of Percy blowing out the candles on his 10th birthday, a blue cake in front of him. Next to that was Sally and Paul on their wedding day. Another was Percy in front of the damaged Prius, thumbs up with Rachel at his side.

Peter opened the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the small deck that over looked a busy New York City street. Poseidon followed close behind him. Peter looked at him.

"Remind me why I'm here right now, and not sitting at the dinner table back home?" Peter asked.

Poseidon smiled mischievously, the kind of smile that Percy had as a kid, but no longer belonged to Peter. "Why am I not sitting on my throne in my palace? Because it will all make sense in a couple of minutes"

Before Peter could even question him about what he was talking about, Poseidon was already glowing and reaching for Peter's shoulder. He found himself being sucked into the light and moving incredibly fast. His eyes were squeezed shut. When the light died down, Peter opened his eyes to find himself standing on Olympus, in the middle of the throne room. His father no longer by his side, but sitting in his fishing chair throne, in his 40 foot form. Poseidon acted like he hadn't even visit Sally's house, like picking up Peter was just an errand.

Peter looked around him, most of the thrones were empty, the only gods in the room were Zeus and Poseidon. Zeus was glowering down at him from his huge marble throne. Things hadn't changed much. Out of the corner of his eye, Peter spotted blonde hair standing next to one of the thrones. When he looked, he saw it was Annabeth next to her mother's seat.

Peter turned back to his father and uncle. "Hello Lord Zeus, it has been a long time." He said while bowing.

Zeus smirked, not amused. "It has indeed, _Perseus_."

Peter winced at his real name. "I didn't think I ever had to visit Olympus again. But I guess it was all too good to be true. You never intended on keeping my wish, were you?"

Zeus rolled his eyes, Poseidon sighed. It must have been hard for him to accept that his favorite son never wanted to see him again. But Peter knew his father understood that it was the only way for him to live a normal life. Peter's so called "normal" life had taken a turn for the worst now.

"We never wanted you to leave. But we had to respect your wish." Poseidon said before Zeus said something rash.

"Just tell me what you need and just maybe I'll do it."

Zeus glared and Poseidon shifted uncomfortably in his fishing chair.

"You need to help restore Camp Half-Blood." Zeus spat.

Peter wanted to laugh, that was insane. Had they ever seen that place? Those grounds were where too many lives had been lost. Now it was barren and dried up just like Gaea had promised.

"You can't rebuild that place. Not that you _shouldn't_, but because you _can't_. It's cursed, abandoned, haunted. You really want your children spending their summers in a place like that?"

"The other ten Olympians and I, along with your father ave been working on lifting the curses and restoring the land for years now. I have personally redrawn and reinforced the magical boundaries." The King of the gods stated confidently.

"We believe it is ready for campers again, and for rebuilding." Poseidon added. Peter wondered about the Ancient laws Annabeth had talked about the previous night. He guess the gods broke those too. Laws didn't matter much if you were them though.

"Why is this happening now? Why didn't this happen years ago after the camp was destroyed?" Peter asked.

"Because, _Jackson_, this was a last resort. We have tried other methods to give our demigods a safe place to stay, but they all have fallen through."

_Kind of like your promises_, Peter thought.

"Percy please, this may not be as important as saving the world, but wouldn't you want your two kids to be safe?" Poseidon said.

Peter saw that one coming, but he didn't understand why the gods wanted the camp to back at that horrible place. It was such a shame that the old camp held so many great and terrible memories. He wished he would be able the return to the place without reliving the bad ones. But even before it was a war zone, it always conjured up the worst nightmares, or senses of deja vu.

"This is crazy." Peter said.

"It is better than having the humans thinking our children are terrorists." Poseidon replied, referring to the news.

Peter crossed his arms, he knew he had no choice but to accept what they wanted him to do. Now that the oath was broken, his scent combined with his children's would make situations in Phoenix too dangerous. The gods knew this, it was their only point thing they needed to get Peter back. But he wouldn't do it for nothing.

"For the safety of my kids, I'll do it." Poseidon smiled at Peter's words. "But with some conditions."

Zeus rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, whatever you want. Tomorrow you will pick the kids up and bring them to the camp."

Peter caught a cab back to Sally's apartment. When he finally got there, he found all of the rooms empty until he trekked into the family room where everyone was sitting awkwardly on the couches, staring at their feet in silence. When Peter walked into the room, his family look at him. Peter sighed and looked at his mother who looked guilty.

"You told them, didn't you?" He asked Sally.

"I had to." Sally exclaimed.

"It's okay mother."

There was an awkward, loud silence in the air. Cassie looked down again. "Are we going to die?"

Peter shook his head and knelt in front of her on the couch, "No. Of course not. Being part god is not a curse. Yes, it is dangerous, but the two of you can get through anything."

Veronica stood up and left the family room, leaving the Blofis-Jackson-Johnson family in another awkward silence. Peter knew what they were going through, at least Percy did anyways.

"How much did grandma tell you?" Peter asked again.

Cassie looked at Chris, then back at her dad. "Just that... you're the son of Poseidon." She said, as if it were crazy. "Making us his grandchildren. And that those myths are really stories...and you have to take us away. Why do we have to leave?"

"It's true, and us three need to get somewhere safe before things get too dangerous. You will find out why soon enough. But tomorrow we will have to leave, and things will get complicated, but it's going to be alright. I know it will."

Chris scoffed and scowled at Peter. "This is ridiculous, none of this is real. It's impossible. Let us go home, I have baseball tryouts and Cassie has her dance recital in a couple of days. We should all be in Phoenix right now."

Peter stood up and looked at his mom who shrugged her shoulders.

"I wouldn't say things like that Chris, it's not very appreciated by the gods." On cue thunder rumbled above their apartment.

"Prove it to me that you are who say you are." Chris demanded.

"Percy doesn't need to prove anything to you. He is your father. Today you may not believe it, but tomorrow you will." Sally said to her grand kids. Everything sounded so much wiser coming from her than from Peter because in reality, it was she was fell in love with a god, and watched her son go through so much pain over the years.

"Percy?" Cassie said, then she thought about it for a moment. "Wait, that blonde woman who was at the door asked for a Percy Jackson last night, thinking it was you. Dad, what else aren't you telling us?"

"I changed my name from Percy Jackson to Peter Johnson when I was 18. you will find out more in the future. Now if you will excuse me, I must go talk to your mother, she is not very happy with me right now."

"But dad-" Cassie started.

"It's late sweetie, both of you should go to bed, we have to get up very early tomorrow and it's nearly eleven."

Cassie gave Peter an annoyed look, and so did Chris. "Fine."

When the kids retreated to their room Peter was left alone with Paul and Sally.

"So," Sally started. "How was Olympus?"

"Well it's always fun to see Big Papa Poseidon and Uncle Zeus after so many years."

Peter stalked out of the family room and headed down the hall to meet Veronica who was standing by the window, staring out over the city in silence. Peter felt a wave a nausea hit him when he realized what this might do to their relationship. Him not telling her about her father and old life might give her a reason to leave him or not trust him. Peter couldn't decide which was worse. He closed the door behind him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She said.

Peter sat down on the bed. "I didn't think I would have to, I was never suppose to worry about this happening. I was suppose to live like a regular human"

"But you're not a _regular_ human Peter. You're half god, which is not exactly believable. But since I met your father, I am somehow fathoming it." Veronica paused.

"Look, when I was a kid, it wasn't easy for me to take in either, it took me a long time until I actually started believing the things that were happening around me. I suggest you talk to Sally about taking it all in, she understands more than you think. Paul will too."

Veronica sat on the edge of the bed and Peter sat next her, "What if I can't do this? Sally says that your world is very dangerous. What if I can't live like this?"

Peter took a deep breath, "Then I can't stop you. You didn't sign up for this. But I love you, and I am the same man you married. We can still live as a family together, you can pick out any house on Long Island and it will be yours, all of our belongings will be transported from Phoenix. You can have a job at any hospital you want. After this summer all four of us can live together again."

"Peter..." Veronica said quietly, putting her hand on his cheek, Peter took it in is hands.

"I know it's a lot to ask for. Just give it a chance. If you're not happy then you can go back to Phoenix. I won't trap you in this world if you don't want to be apart of it."

Veronica fiddled with her wedding ring, she spun it around and around. Peter gulped. What if she left him and took the kids with her? How could Peter regain her trust, or how could Percy gain it? How could he manage to beg her to come back?

"I can't not be apart of Chris and Cassie's lives, and I certainly can't be away from you. We're a family. I'll have to get use to the New York lifestyle I guess."

Peter smiled and so did Veronica, he kissed her like he did when she first told him she loved him. Peter couldn't imagine himself without her in his life, if Veronica had left him, Peter wouldn't know how helpful he would be with the rebuilding of the camp.

"It's late," Veronica said, "And it's been a long day, we should probably go to bed."

Peter nodded. They changed into their pajamas and cuddled up in the small bed. It would be their last night together in a long time


	4. Chapter 4

That night Peter had a dream that he was in a beat up motel bathroom. He was drenched in sweat and his face was dirty, for some reason he was in his best suit. The dark blue Italian suit was blackened by dirt and ripped apart. His white dress shirt was half unbuttoned and had a big red blood stain over Peter's heart. Peter was breathing hard as if he was running.

Peter looked into the mirror. He expected to see a beat up 39 year-old, but staring at him was a fierce looking teenager with an orange shirt on and an angry mop of jet black hair. The boys sea green eyes stood out against his deep tan. Peter was taken aback. Young Percy stared at Peter's wound, almost relieved by it. Percy took out a pen and released Riptide.

"Sorry Peter." He said as he raised his sword.

Just as it seemed like Percy's sword was about to jump out of the mirror and behead him, Peter punched the mirror and it shattered into the sink. Peter looked into the shards of glass, green eyes stared back. A ringing filled his ears. He sprang upright in his sleep, the 4:00 am alarm clock was blaring. Veronica stirred next to him.

He had fallen asleep Peter Johnson, but awoke as Percy Jackson.

* * *

Percy opened the door of his mother's apartment and herded Chris and Cassie into the hall. As he was locking the door someone tapped him on the shoulder, Percy looked to see Annabeth. She didn't seem very happy to be at such an early hour, but she was suppose to help him get all the other demigods get to the old camp.

"Good morning." She said unsmiling.

"Good morning." Peter replied back.

Percy turned to his kids who were staring at Annabeth, "Kids this is Annabeth, she's an old friend and she'll be coming with us."

Cassie gave her a wave but Chris just stared at her. They moved along the hallways and into the elevator. Everybody had a backpack filled with clothes and other necessities. The air in the elevator was very awkward. Percy still couldn't believe Annabeth was standing next to him. When the elevator reached the bottom floor, the four of them walked through the empty lobby, two twelve passenger vans were parked outside of the apartment building, waiting for them.

Annabeth handed Percy keys to one of the vans and a walkie talkie. "Follow me there, and if you get lost just radio me. I'm on channel 600. The vans should have a full tank but we'll have to fill them back up once we reach Long Island."

Percy nodded, "How many kids are there?"

"A week ago there were twenty, but Chiron could have lost or gained campers since then." Annabeth looked at Percy's kids, "But that will all be over soon, don't worry."

She turned and hopped into her van, Percy told Chris and Cassie to get in his. They pulled out and waited through the 4:30am traffic of New York City. The kids fell asleep in the back of the van, laying down on the rows so they could have more leg room. Chris was drooling on his backpack which he used as a pillow, Percy chuckled a little. Like father like son.

An hour out of the city, Percy was reminded about how rural and woodsy New York gets once you leave the big city. Everything is so much more calm and relaxing, Percy could see the sun getting ready to come up over the hills in the east. for the first time in years he thought about Apollo driving around in some red hot car that would make anyone jealous.

Percy kept following the red taillights of Annabeth's van and around 6:30, Annabeth came onto the radio.

"Percy, you there?" She said, her voice coming in distorted and crackly.

"Yeah."

"In about a mile we're going to take a left. Now there isn't a road, just a path, so be careful because it's going to get very bumpy." She warned.

"Got it, thanks." Percy replied.

He set the walkie talkie down in the console next to his coffee mug and checked on Cassie and Chris in the back. He couldn't see Cassie because she was in the second row but he could hear her snoring which made him smile. In about of minute Percy saw Annabeth's left blinker on the van blink, turning into the middle of a pine forest. When he pulled into it Percy realized that Annabeth might have been twisting the truth about the "path" she mentioned. Tree branches scrapped against the van and made it jump over rocks. Chris and Cassie gradually woke up in the back because of the disturbance.

"Where are we?" Chris asked, rubbing his eyes and looking out the windows.

"I'm not sure." Percy said.

"That's helpful." Chris muttered.

They went down the "path" for another fifteen minutes until Annabeth stopped her van and got out and walked over to Percy. He rolled down the window and she crossed her arms like she didn't want to be near him.

"It's all on foot from here, the makeshift camp is about a ten minute walk from here." She said. "Chris and Cassie can come with me but it would be best if you stayed here and guarded the vans while I go get everybody."

Percy looked in the back again, Chris looked like a zombie and Cassie was still sleeping. He turned back to Annabeth, he knew she wanted to say something else but he didn't want to push for more. She already looked unhappy with him for no reason. Or maybe she had lots of reasons that she had been thinking of for the past twenty years but Percy tried not to think about that.

"How long do you think it's going to take?"

"Half hour, maybe forty-five minutes. Everyone should be packed up and waiting for use."

"Sounds good to me, I get a chance to sleep."

"You do that Perce." Annabeth said turning around and walking into the forest.

Percy tried to close his eyes and take a nap but he couldn't shake the feeling that Annabeth was mad at him. When they were kids they would get in little fights about stupid things but now that they were adults it felt more personal. Two nights ago Annabeth was begging him to abandon life as Peter to help out but now that he had traveled across the country, all he was good for was guarding the van and taking a light nap. He tried to calm his mind and focus on getting some sleep. Before he knew it, Percy was jumping awake by someone tapping on the glass, it was Annabeth again but this time there were many people next to him.

This time Percy hopped out of the van.

"You still drool in your sleep." Annabeth said in an annoyed voice. "How surprising."

"What can I say? Old habits die hard." Annabeth cracked a smile, and it was like being kids again, but then her smiled faded and Percy remembered that he wasn't a kids anymore. He looked before him to find around eighteen disheartened kids before him. Percy knew what they were going through and he remembered why he left.

"Is that Mr. Percy Jackson?" The small crowd of kids moved apart for a man in an automatic wheelchair.

"Chiron," Percy said, a smile growing on his face. He reached to shake his hand. "It's so good to see you again."

"I agree, though I wish it was on better terms, it is always good to see that a half-blood is doing well at your age. Well there is always time for catching up later," Chiron said, then turning to all of the other demigods. "But now we must board the vans and head to Camp Half-Blood."

The group of teens climbed into the vans, Chiron wheeled himself over to Annabeth's van along with them. Percy climbed back into his vehicle and waited for everyone else to fill in the empty seats. Cassie and Chris looked very uncomfortable with so many people they didn't know. An older guy, about seventeen sat in the passengers seat. He was tall and built with short brown hair. Once they had reached the road the guy finally spoke.

"So you're the great Percy Jackson." He said in a sarcastic tone.

"I think 'great' would be too strong of a word." Percy said, "Whats your name kid?"

"Chance."

"How long have you been on the run, Chance?"

"A long time."

Percy nodded, "Sounds about right. Parent?" Chance was silent. "You _have_ been claimed right?"

Chance looked at him, "Of course, just don't want to talk about it."

"Got it." Percy said.

It was silent again for a while. Percy looked in the rearview mirror and saw a lot of the other demigods either sleeping on each others shoulders or looking out the windows, watching the forest go by. They all looked so tired, like this road trip was the first time they had gotten to sit down in months, which was probably true. Chance was probably one of the oldest demigods in the group and probably their leader too. Percy couldn't help that Chance was going through some similar things as he was when he was younger. Except the world was not being threatened to come to an end by ancient forces. But Percy knew that Chance had seen death by the stern look in his face, he knew Chance had lost a few friends and that he felt like it was all his fault when there was nothing he could do.

"How long has Annabeth been visiting you guys over the years?" Percy asked.

He thought for a bit, "A while, before I got into the nomadic life anyways. She comes around about once a month to where ever we decide to settle for the week."

Percy gripped the steering wheel tighter. People knew she had been alive for years. The gods were right when they thought that Annabeth would be the only thing to bring him back, but why they had waited so long was still a mystery to him. It angered Percy to think that other people knew she was still alive and didn't try to tell him. Sure it would have messed with what he wanted but it was _Annabeth_. Now too much time had passed and it had tainted their friendship. Annabeth could hardly look at him, Percy began to get the idea that the big speech back in Arizona was all good acting.

Percy grabbed the walkie talkie from the console and spoke into it. "So did you really mean the things you said Friday? Or was it just another lie?"

The other line was silent for a while but then the crackle of the radio started, "We will talk about this later Percy."

Percy wanted to chuck the walkie talkie out the window but instead he just set it down and kept his anger in. It was so like Annabeth to skim over the truth to try and get someone to do something. She could be so manipulative if you just let her talk.

He looked over at Chance who was looking out the window, surveying the land. He was on the look out. "Relax," Percy said, "I asked the gods for immunity for the ride to camp. You don't have to worry about monsters until you get a quest."

Chance huffed but didn't say anything. Percy got the feeling that he still wouldn't be letting his guard down. He remembered being just as paranoid at Chance's age. Nothing was what it seemed back then, a clear blue sky would be a raging super storm in minutes. Back then everything was trying to kill him, monsters, gods, titans, the Earth itself. His guard never went down. Maybe he should be more alert now, but what good could he even do? He had no sword, no knife. Just powers over water that he wasn't sure how weak it would make him if he used them. Or if he had as much control over it as he used to. Percy didn't know how age affected demigods, the only demigods he had met that was over twenty had to be Daedalus but he stayed alive in automations.

"Whats camp like?" Chance asked.

Percy thought for a while. It had changed so much. It used to be a safe place, then a place of war, then a cursed place. He wouldn't know what it would be like until he got there to see how it had transformed.

"I'm not sure, time changes everything."

"Well what was it like when you were there?"

"Camp used to be a place for the ones who survived. If you stumbled over Half-Blood Hill, you had made it. But there was still a long road ahead of you. You train and train and train, with some fun in between. It was a summer camp for demigods but some didn't have families, or their scent was too strong to live a normal life outside camp boarders, so they stayed all year." Percy explained.

"I can't tell if that seems fun or not." Chance contemplated, "But it sounds better than moving around every week."

Percy remembered being on the run over various quests but he couldn't fathom doing it for years like Chance and the demigods before him.

The drive was silent all the way until they got to camp. Everyone had fallen asleep, even Chance. Percy stared down the one lane dirt road and at the huge hill at the end. It shimmered under the protection of the Mist. To the left was the Atlantic ocean, Percy could smell it, with every breath he could feel his senses coming alive and his power strengthening. It was memory lane. Memories that were both good and bad. Percy didn't know what to expect, so he tried not to expect anything to be over that hill, but as he saw the shriveled, burnt pine tree at the top, his hands began to shake.

With each second that passed as he got closer to the tree, a headache grew and his chest pounded. Percy's knuckles were white on the wheel as he climbed the great Half-Blood Hill. When he saw Annabeth park her van at the top, he knew there was no turning back. He had to face this, face the past. He parked next to Annabeth, he looked through the window and over to her. She looked at him too, a pained look was spread across her face but she nodded.

Percy looked back at the sleeping crew and turned the radio on full blast to wake them up. "Wake up! We're here..."


	5. Chapter 5

Percy stepped out of the van and looked over the hill. The landscape was mostly the same except there were deep divots in the ground from past battles. The grass was slowly coming back from a dead yellow into a lush green. The forest was mostly destroyed still, but Percy could see some trees popping up from the wreckage. He could still see what it used to look like. The Big House at the bottom of the hill, strawberry fields in the distance, the woods on the far boarder. Percy felt as if he should be sixteen again, with Riptide in his back pocket, not shattered in a box at Sally's. Annabeth joined him and surveyed the land too.

"Do you think it will ever be the same?" Annabeth asked.

"No." Percy said slowly. "Nothing will ever be the same after what happened."

Demigods poured from the vans and started murmuring amongst themselves. Chris and Cassie came to Percy's side.

"So what now?" Chris asked.

Percy looked over at his son, "We rebuild."

* * *

Percy, Annabeth, Chiron, Chance and a girl named Miranda sat around a portable plastic table next to where the Big House used to stand. They were looking over the plans for the new camp, trying to decide where to put everything and how they would build it. Everyone else was busy putting up their own tents for the night or standing around the fire, talking and making hot dogs. It had been a long day and night was already falling. The new campers took their time to wonder around the camp and down to the beach. Miranda was one of the leaders amongst the demigods with Chance, and the daughter of Demeter.

All the kids kept looking at Percy strangely, as if they expected a ripped, gorgeous hero who walked around shirtless 24/7 with a hunger for danger and fearlessness in his eyes and had a face that age hadn't dared to touch. Instead they got a clean cut businessman in a University of Arizona sweatshirt and baseball hat, nerdy tennis shoes, a face that was already forming wrinkles at 39, and had two kids. It must have been a big let down. They must have taken one looked at him and thought they were doomed.

"So I'm thinking that instead of making individual cabins for every god and goddess, we should just build two big cabins for boys and girls. It will save a lot of godly drama and we need to stick together. This way theres no division between campers." Annabeth suggested.

Everyone pondered that idea.

"I think it's a great idea, I hated being alone in the Zeus cabin." A voice said from behind them.

The five of them turned to see a blonde guy about 16. If you only saw the right side of him, you would think he was just a normal kid, but actually he was wearing a prosthetic left leg, and was missing his left arm. On top of that he was deaf in his left ear and blind in his left eye. Though, Percy guessed he could still easily defeat monsters despite his disabilities.

"Jason Grace," Percy said, putting out a hand to shake, "Never thought I'd see you again, and looking so young for that matter."

"Yes, well immortality serves well so far. Heard you're a big shot CEO these days." Jason said, shaking Percy's hand, a smile spread across his face as Percy shrugged.

Annabeth gave Jason a hug, "I thought you were a lone wolf these days."

He laughed, "Well I thought it was time to run with the pack."

Chiron cleared his throat, "Chance, Miranda, this is Jason Grace, the son of Jupiter. He is going to help with the rebuilding and training process like Annabeth and Percy."

The two looked at Jason the way they looked at Percy. They had expected someone much more than someone with disabilities who had saved the world. It wouldn't take long for the campers to realize how heroes come out of war and battle. Demigods that survive don't always come out as a perfect person, they are wounded or forced to change their identity to escape the life they just couldn't live in anymore.

"So anyways, what do the rest of you think?" Annabeth said, rejoining the table, Jason next to her.

"I like the idea," Percy said, "But lets not forget that some demigods don't like each other because of their parents. For example, Ares and Athena. Last time I checked their kids never get along. That's a minor detail though, its something we can work through with the kids. But Jason has a good point, I didn't like being alone in my cabin either, and with so few campers, who knows how many of them will be by themselves."

"Won't it upset the gods if they're not represented though?" Miranda asked.

"We can make them a statue of them all or something, the gods will get over it." Annabeth added.

"I like the idea. We will see how it goes as more campers come, I expect two new campers coming in tomorrow. If this cabin arrangement becomes a problem though, we will be forced to go back to the one cabin per god plan." Chiron concluded. "Now about an armory..."

By the end of the meeting a few hours later, Percy knew that the next day would be a big a big one. He went to find Chris and Cassie and see how they were doing. He found them on the beach, sitting in the sand next to each other, looking over the inky black Atlantic Ocean that reflected the moon over it. The night was chilly and Percy was glad he had his sweatshirt on.

Things were going to start changing, and they would change fast. Being launched into the world of the gods was always a dangerous thing. The first time it happened to him he was wanted for stealing a lightning bolt, the second time he was introduced to Romans. This time Percy had no idea what the gods wanted him to do, or what they wanted from his kids. Percy took a wild guess that there weren't many grandchildren of Poseidon running around.

Cassie spoke up and interrupted Percy's thought circle. "We're not going to be living in tents forever are we?"

Percy chuckled, "No don't worry, you'll have a roof over your heads in a couple days. But don't worry about that. I'm curious to know if you feel any different right now next to the ocean?"

"Yeah," Chris said, "I feel stronger. Like I could hit ten homers in a row."

"Me too, except I can, like, _feel_ the water. Is that weird? Like is that normal?" Cassie asked.

"It's normal don't worry. I'm going to try to train you two how to effectively use your abilities, however, I do not know how powerful you two are because you have only have a fourth of godly blood in you. Don't sell yourself short though, you're still powerful." Percy paused. "I know you're probably really mad at me for dragging you around and surprising you with this world and everything, but the same thing happened to every single one of the other demigods here. The more you know, the more danger you're in. This life is dangerous and that's why they have camp. You must understand that I have made many sacrifices to make sure you two are safe, without doing so I would have died years ago and you wouldn't have been born."

"But our life isn't ever going to be normal... is it?" Cassie asked quietly.

"No, honey. It probably won't." He paused, "But normal is boring, I guess."

"That is true." Chris added.

"Look, this isn't going to be easy for anyone, but I love you guys no matter what." Percy said.

Percy looked back at the ocean and even though he had been back at camp all day, in that moment it truly hit him that he was actually back. Suddenly Percy was encompassed with fear because he was in the exact place he promised himself he would never come back to.

But there was also a blonde woman wondering the camp that until two days before, was still dead. Percy never thought he would see her again after that fateful day on the real Mount Olympus, though she was there at camp. He closed his eyes because everything was happening almost too fast, and it didn't feel real. But it was. He could tell by the sand around his feet and the smell of the salty sea slapping in the face that he was back. And that no matter how far he ran, something would bring him back because Annabeth Chase was alive. And because she was alive, Percy would stay.


	6. Chapter 6

**Two Years Later**

Cassie stared at the ocean in the back seat of her dad's SUV as they headed to Camp Half-Blood for the summer. School had gotten out a week ago but she and Chris wanted to spend more time with their mother before they were gone for so long. They were almost there and the butterflies in her stomach grew larger. _Stop being so stupid, Cassie_, she said to herself. Cassie had never been nervous about seeing a _guy_ in her life, but sophomore year in public school had been rough, and there was only one person who understood why.

Cassie looked down at her right leg. Only half of it was left and she had a prosthetic leg from the knee down. Last summer she and Chris went on their first quest, they were successful but a monster got a hold of Cassie and bit off her leg before Chris got the chance to kill it. Having to relearn how walk again was a slow and brutal process, but her dad had asked Jason to mentor her through everything which made it a bit easier. She learned a lot from him about staying confident and not letting her disability get in the way.

Cassie ended up spending a lot of time with Jason and developed a tiny crush on him. But it was stupid, she often told herself, there were plenty of guys out there who were her age and weren't immortal. But it didn't help that Jason preferred to stay at the gorgeous age 16 instead of his real age, which was just a little younger than her dad. That always weirded her out though. When Cassie remembered how old he was, she got a shiver down her spine and thought, _no thank you_.

But relentlessly, the butterflies fluttered as her dad parked the SUV in the back of the Meeting House where the mentors stayed. Cassie recognized Annabeth and Jason's cars next to each other. Cassie could never figure out why Annabeth and her dad always acted so awkwardly around each other, she knew they were in the war together but she couldn't shake the feeling that something more went on. Stuff no one liked to talk about. Including Jason. Whenever Cassie tried to pry information about her dad out of him, he got all serious and changed the subject. None of the other campers liked to talk about what happened years ago either, but at the same time, they didn't know much about it. There were always rumors that the camp was haunted because battles had been fought there, but no one really knew for sure.

Cassie undid her seat belt and slowly got out of the car and balanced on her left leg (her _real_ leg) then eased onto her fake one. Walking was always weird, but she made it look easy, almost normal. Percy opened the trunk for everyone to get their bags.

"Chris, help your sister with her bags." Her dad said.

"It's fine dad, I got it." Cassie said, a slight smile on her face to reassure him it was okay.

Percy worried so much about her all the time. Cassie knew that he thought it was his fault that her leg was gone but in reality there was nothing he could have done to prevent it from happening. She always had to tell him that it was in the past, that she had moved on.

Percy handed Cassie her backpack and duffel bag then Chris his. Her dad slammed the truck door shut when it was finally clear.

"Alright I'll see you two at dinner, try not to cause too much trouble on the first day. But if you do, just know that I'm completely okay with it." Percy said, a smile on his face.

"Gottcha pops." Chris said.

The two of them started walking towards the boys and girls barracks which were probably already full. Luckily, over spring break they had taken a day trip and claimed their bunks for the summer before they got too full and would have to live on the third floor for the summer.

"So what are we gonna do this summer?" Cassie asked Chris.

Last summer it was the quest and pretty much healing from the quest, and the summer before was basically figuring out who they were and sticking together as siblings. This summer would be different. Hopefully it would be more fun, more time with friends, not in the infirmary or in physical therapy. The new Camp Half-Blood carried on the tradition of having a bead for a necklace to symbolize the events of the summer. The first summer it was a Phoenix because camp rose from the ashes just like the bird. Last summer it was a musical note because some of the Apollo kids had won some kind of award for the band they were in and there was a big concert, but Cassie and Chris missed it because of the quest.

"This summer," Chris started. "We're going to find out the truth about dad."

"Chris, I want to have _fun_ this summer, not get all depressed about how secretly messed up dad's life used to be."

"Fine, whatever." Chris huffed, "But that's what I'll be doing. I'm done with the old man keeping things from us. We're sixteen now, we're old enough to know."

As Chris became older, he also became good at crossing the lines and stepping on people's toes, but maybe the past belonged in the past.

"What if you find out something you didn't want to know?" Cassie asked. "What if dad did something really bad?"

"He couldn't have done something bad or else the gods wouldn't have dragged him back. Come on, don't try and tell me that it doesn't bug you that dad is secretive all the time. Even mom notices these days."

He was right. But Chris was swimming in dangerous waters now. Cassie knew her brother well enough to know there was no stopping him. Sometimes he was so headstrong and thought that he could use smooth talking to get out of any situation, but he could be really irritating if he didn't shut up. Cassie guessed that he was just bitter that he could probably never be a pro baseball player anymore because he couldn't play summer ball and the team their high school had wasn't the best. Chris was the best player on the varsity team as a sophomore.

"You do what you want, but if you _do_ find something, tell me."

They approached the barracks, girls on the left, boys on the right. The barracks were basically two oversized cabins with three floors each. Inside only contained one big room on each floor, the rooms had bunk beds with big chests at the bottoms for campers to keep their belongings in. There was a room in the back of the barracks that connected the two cabins with couches and a ping pong table so the campers could hang out before lights out. The older kids like Chris and Cassie always tried to get beds on the bottom floors because it was easier to sneak out of at night.

"Home, sweet home." Chris said with a sigh.

"Oh hush," Cassie chided, "We're hardly in the barracks anyways."

"I know, I know. They're just so... crammed."

"You'll be fine." Cassie finished.

The two walked to their separate barracks, Cassie slowly working her way up the stairs that led to the door. Noise filled the air as she walked in, so many girls seeing each other for the first time in months, there was so much catching up to do. Everyone was running around and giving hugs, gossiping on each other's beds, little kids running up and down the stairs. The girls barracks were insane, the smell of too much perfume from Bath & Body Works body spray never faded, there were always multiple stereos blasting iPods, clothes every where, bras hanging from the beds, swords and knifes casually laying on the ground that you had to be careful not to step on. Normal stuff.

Cassie went and found her bottom bunk bed which was the only bed unoccupied and close to the side door which was made things easy to get in and out of. Girls yelled hello to her from across the room and newbies stared at her prosthetic leg, which was something Cassie had gotten used to so it didn't bother her much. She set her stuff down and took out the sheets in her duffel bag to make her bed when an extra pair of hands started helping out.

Cassie recognized who it was by the crazy neon yellow nail polish, she looked to see one of her best friends at camp, "Maria!"

"Cassie!" Maria yelled, embracing her into a hug.

"I missed you so much!"

"I know it's been _way _ to long." Maria said really fast, like she always did when she got excited about something.

Maria was the daughter of Athena but she was _nothing_ like her siblings. Maria was carefree and didn't like to follow the rules. She didn't even have those trademark grey eyes, her eyes were brown, she wished they were blue though. Maria was the kind of girl who could get along with anyone which made her a very good diplomat. She, of course, was one of the most intelligent people Cassie had ever met. Most people were taken aback when they learned that Maria was already a junior in college at the age of sixteen.

"How was your time without me?" Cassie asked.

Maria put her hand to her chest, "I don't know how I survived without you my Casserole."

"Stop, that nickname is the worst."

"Whatever Cass the bass."

"Again with the fish name..."

"You know you love it! You _are_ pretty closely related to fish after all."

"I missed you." Cassie said with a sigh. And she really did, she had a few friends at school but none like Maria. The whole leg thing was a turn off for girls and boys alike, but Maria was there for her from the beginning. "Wanna go to the beach?"

"Absolutely!" Maria exclaimed, "Oh! Can you to that water horse thing? I miss watching you to that _so_ much."

"Of course, anything you want girl!"

Cassie had inherited better skills of controlling water than Chris had, but Chris was a much better fighter. Cassie could mold the water into anything she wanted like her dad taught her, but making small horses out of the waves so the galloped around her was her favorite. She could tell a story through water figures if she concentrated enough. Cassie had as much fun with her ability to manipulate the water as she could, but her powers were limited. She couldn't create huge tidal waves of hurricanes like Percy.

While Cassie was hanging out and catching up with Maria, she forgot all about Jason, the butterflies disappeared and she just focused on being with her best friend. She hoped this summer would finally be a good one.

* * *

Chris barely escaped the boys barracks with his life. The woods were suppose to be the most dangerous spot in camp, but Chris was positive that the boys barracks were just as deadly. The Ares kids liked to throw knifes at a small target on the other side of the room, sometimes hitting kids in the arm or puncturing bunks. And the Apollo kids tended to try and shoot arrows while playing a musical instrument at the same time.

Chris didn't see any of his friends in the craze so he headed to the lake to think. He liked to sit out on the dock and figure things out. Chris was grateful that no one ever went there either except in the winter when people went ice skating. Chris laid down on the dock and listened to the waves calmly lapping at the shore, he thought about Gabby, and how he would finally tell her how he felt. Gabby was an Aphrodite girl, exactly the kind of girl his dad told him to try and avoid. He couldn't help himself though, she was so gorgeous. Her shoulder length, glossy, jet black hair and impossibly violet eyes drew him in. He got all starry eyed just thinking about her.

"Christopher." Chris heard a voice say. At first he thought it might be Gabby, but then he realized this mysterious voice was too calm, just like the waves of the lake coming to shore. "Over here."

Chris sat up at saw a girl about eighteen resting her arms on the edge of the dock. She was a naiad, her hair was a brown and blonde mix, and her eyes matched the deep green color of the lake she lived in.

"I am Lily." She said, her voice rippled into Chris's ears. "I can show you what you seek."

Chris frowned, what was he seeking again? "And what is that exactly?"

Lily smiled, "Come closer and I will tell you."

He didn't know why, but Chris went towards her, he knelt next to her on the dock. They locked eyes and Chris was mesmerized by her sudden beauty. Her light skin glowed, making her eyes unavoidable. And her smile, her smile was so perfect. Her teeth impossibly straight and white, her lips shaped perfectly to her face. Who was Gabby again?

Lily lifted herself out of the water a little to whisper in her ear. But when Chris expected her to tell him something, she pulled him into the water instead. As soon as he was submerged, Chris's senses came back and he pulled out his hidden celestial bronze knife and held it to her neck.

"You have misunderstood Christopher," Lily said, shaking her, "Look, it's Perseus."

Lily pointed to the rays of sunlight that leaked through the surface of the lake, images flickered in them, and Chris recognized his father. He lowered his knife and swam towards the images.

Chris saw to kids his age, swimming in that very lake, in normal clothes yet perfectly dry. There was a boy and a girl, the girl had blonde hair and the boy had longish black hair. Chris knew it was his father, but didn't know who the girl was. They kissed. It was weird seeing his dad kissing someone else other than his mom. Then he recognized her, Chris had seen that girl in old pictures at his grandma's house, he couldn't think of her name until the images in the lake started to change. It showed the girl sitting on a bench near the lake's edge that was no longer there today. She was weeping but she was praying too.

"Athena," She said with hardly a breath to let her talk, "I know you don't like him... but _please_ help him, and help me find him. Please help save the one who helped save you this summer. Save Percy Jackson."

Athena...blonde hair, Chris thought. The gears in his head started to turn, the girl is Annabeth. Annabeth Chase, who always seemed so distant around his dad, was once his girlfriend. The scene changed again, but this time it was a different scene around the lake. Some of the surrounding trees were on fire, and there were explosions sounding off all around. Chris knew enough to know that it was a war zone. But what amazed him was that he saw his father, fighting off five guys in full armor, where all Percy had was a sword. There was something about his dad that just seemed off though, there was a craze in his eyes. Chris looked and saw Annabeth, sitting wounded on the ground, Percy was protecting her.

The guys Percy were fighting looked like they wanted to kill him, and Percy looked like he wanted to kill them too. "Kill the traitor!" One of them yelled. As they attacked Chris saw his dad fight like he had never seen him fight before, every swing of his sword was accurate and sharp, finding all the weak spots in the opponents armor. Somehow he managed to disarm all but one, the last opponent put up a good fight but Percy managed to get his sword against his throat. Just as it seemed Chris was going to have to see his own dad kill someone, a bolt of lightning split them apart. The other guy stayed down, probably unconscious from the electrocution, but somehow Percy popped up, ready to go in for the kill. Two people, a boy and a girl, burst out of the flaming woods and approached Percy. They were armed, but they were allies, and Percy knew it. Chris recognized the boy as Jason right away, but he didn't know who the girl was. The two looked beat, they had been fighting too, but they looked more worried about the scene in front of them than the war going on around them.

"Percy," Jason said, trying to get Percy to focus on his. "You have to snap out of it."

"They want to kill her! If I don't kill them, they will kill her." Percy tired to push past Jason.

"They don't want to hurt her." Jason tried to keep his voice even,.

"You go help Annabeth, Jason." The girl said. "I've got him."

Jason didn't want to leave her alone with Percy, he was too dangerous in the state he was in, but he went and helped Annabeth anyways. The girl put her hands on Percy's face and made him look into her eyes.

"Percy, look at me." She said, her words held power, his frantic gaze settled. "You have to calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down Piper!" Percy raged and tried to push past her, "I can't let her die, I love her!"

The girl, named Piper, looked shaken by his response but she kept going, "I know you do, but Annabeth is safe, she is okay. You're at camp, you're not fighting monsters you're fighting demigods. You're fighting your own kind, you don't want to kill them."

"You weren't down there."

"I know." Piper said, she closed her eyes and concentrated. "But you have to come back Percy, you have to remember who you were before you two took the fall. Percy Jackson isn't a killer, he is a fighter."

Percy looked down, he blinked his eyes hard, and gave Piper a hug. He started to cry."What is happening to me?"

Chris had never seen his dad cry before. Not once. But he never wanted to see him cry again. Chris could tell that his dad was on the brink of insanity when he was fighting those men, but he didn't know why. Chris wondered if his dad really _had_ killed anyone to protect Annabeth. He couldn't picture his dad killing someone. Piper had been right, he was a fighter, not a killer. Wasn't he? That was just a little snipet of battle, Chris thought, what if someone wasn't there to stop him, and he really _did_ kill people. Chris became positive if Jason and Piper hadn't gotten there in time, Percy would have killed all five of those men to protect Annabeth. Chris thought that he must of really loved her, but would Percy have tried to kill a person who would put his mom in danger too?

"I don't want to see anymore." Chris said to Lily.

She looked sad, her flirtatious nature gone, "I don't have anymore to show you." Chris started to swim away but Lily said something, "Christopher, your father is a good man, but he has gone through many terrible things. This was only a tiny part of a huge story. If you didn't like what you saw, then I suggest you stop looking into your father's past."


	7. Chapter 7

Cassie's eyes shot open. She was gasping for a breath, drenched in sweat, she scrambled in her sheets to her right leg. The stump, above where her knee was suppose to be, was still rounded and scarred like it was yesterday. She tried to calm down, her nightmares of losing her leg always were worse at camp. Cassie eventually strapped on her prosthetic leg and threw on a sweatshirt and quietly snuck out the door next to her bunk.

The air outside was nice and cool for a June night, it was a nice break from the heat of the day. Cassie's legs got goose bumps because of her little polka dot pajama shorts, but her top half was nice and warm from the sweatshirt. It was probably not the best idea to be walking around camp without a shoe on her foot, especially at night when objects on the ground weren't very visible, but she didn't really care. Cassie made her way to the beach, she had already been there earlier that day with Maria, but it was always different by herself, and at night.

Cassie laid down in the sand after taking off her fake leg, it was so much more freeing without it. She dug her left foot and both hands under the cool sand and looked up at the bright stars, letting the sound of the ocean's waves crashing down sooth her senses. She spotted Ursa Major and Ursa Minor along with the North Star. She didn't know many other constellations, but it was fine with her, the stars still mesmerized her even if she didn't know what they belonged to.

"I'm pretty sure it's against camp rules to be outside of the barracks past 11 o'clock if you're a camper." A voice said from behind Cassie, "But I guess I'll let it slide."

Cassie turned her head in the sand to see who it was, but she already knew. Jason must have arrived earlier that night. She wanted to get up and give him a hug but she decided that would be weird and stayed put, half buried in the sand. Jason sat down to the left of her and gazed over the ocean.

"Did you have a nightmare?" He asked in a small voice.

Cassie waited for a moment to reply, "They get worse here."

"I know." Jason said.

Cassie didn't want to look at him because he was starting to make her nervous, but she sat up in the sand anyways. "I want to forget. I want to forget the whole thing, but I can't. "

"Cassie, you can't let the memories run your life."

"Well what _happened_ is running my life." Cassie looked down at her Hampton High Dance Team sweatshirt she was wearing that she had gotten freshman year, pre-accident. "I already had a lack of friends at school because I was new, but now no one wants to be friends with the girl who is missing half a leg."

"Well that's high school for you. People get over superficial things like that as you grow up. But you have plenty of friends here, even a one legged, one armed, half blind, half deaf one." Jason cracked a smile.

Cassie looked at him and tried to smile too, but she was punching herself on the inside. _Fool_, she thought, _you know he only wants to be friends_.

"Why are you out here anyways, Jason?" Cassie asked, turning the conversation on him.

"Same as you, can't sleep."

"What's on your mind?" Cassie said, "The doctor is in, you don't even have to pay."

Jason laughed lightly, "The usual."

"That is quite vague."

"It was suppose to be that way."

Cassie stayed silent and looked back up at the stars. She wanted him to tell her everything about him, now would be the perfect time, but Jason was guarded. Her curiosity still flourished though, she had to think of the right time and place to get him to spill the beans.

Cassie looked at her watch, "It's six minutes past three in the morning and you're hanging out with me. What compelled you to come here?"

Jason fiddled with the sand. Cassie wanted to know what was going on inside of his head, he mystified her. She thought it was cute how sometimes when they high fived, a little electric shock would go through them. Jason always got embarrassed but it's not like it he could help it. Sometimes it was hard for her to believe that he was so old because he acted just like a sixteen year old. He was wise about battle and life things but he still liked to have fun.

But Jason stayed silent, and Cassie was getting cold, "Don't want to talk? I guess I'll just leave you alone then, obviously you need to figure some things out." She strapped on her leg and started to get up, but she felt his hand tug at hers. That familiar shock was sent up her left arm, and spreading out through her body.

"Piper, wait." Jason said, but then he immediately cursed to himself.

Cassie snatched her hand back, a smirk settling upon her face, "Excuse me?"

She stood up and started walking away. Why did I even bother wasting my time on him? She asked herself. Jason really _did_ need to figure things out, what exactly, Cassie had no idea. She hoped it was that he had feelings for her, but then he would have never called her by the name of Piper in the first place. Who was this Piper girl anyway? Must be one of his girlfriends or something, Cassie thought. Jason was quite the stud, many girls flirted with him even though he was disabled. He was still gorgeous, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, strong and built, the son of Jupiter, an amazing hero and fighter, and don't forget, an immortal.

Cassie's bare feet hit the grass of the main lawn, she should have never asked Jason about anything personal. Why had she expected him to talk to her? For him to actually open up? Then Cassie thought about how Jason was always pressing her to tell him about her feelings, and she got mad because she realized how hypocritical he was. Why did I trust him, when he doesn't trust me? Cassie thought.

"Come on, Cassie, I'm sorry!" Cassie heard Jason call from behind her, but she kept walking all the back to the barracks.

Carefully, Cassie snuck through the back door and into her bed after taking her leg off. It's time to move on, and find someone else, she thought, someone my own age, and who will actually like me. Though Jason had never said if he liked her or not, Cassie guessed he didn't, he was probably still hung up on that Piper girl, whoever she was. There were plenty of attractive guys at camp, but not all would be willing to date the girl with a missing leg. It was a turn off, thats for sure. At school before she lost her leg, plenty of guys flirted with Cassie, but when sophomore year started and all the guys saw what had happened, they scattered. Same with her friends that were girls, its not like they were mean to her, but there were so many activities that Cassie couldn't participate in anymore, so her friends slowly drifted away.

Cassie tried not to think about that anymore though, she looked up at the mattress above her. Cassie's eyes followed the pattern of the stitching around and around until the sun came up and Annabeth came to the barracks and to wake everyone up. All the girls moaned and started falling out of their beds, heading to the showers and the bathroom. Cassie stayed were she was, of course right when she was suppose to be waking up did she feel tired. Annabeth came to her bed and sat on the edge.

Cassie never knew what to think of Annabeth. Cassie knew Annabeth didn't like her dad, and he didn't really like her either, but somehow they managed to work together. Annabeth always managed to stare at Cassie in a real funny way whenever she didn't think she was looking. But along with Jason, Annabeth always pushed Cassie to be better, and Cassie liked that about her.

"Your dad wants you to meet with Jason for a combat training session in the arena before breakfast instead of the morning run." Annabeth said.

Cassie froze a little, she definitely didn't want to be around Jason that day, but she had to act like she was annoyed about it, so she rolled her eyes, "Don't tell me dad doesn't think I can run."

Annabeth straightened up, "Of course not, he actually anticipated that to be your reaction, so he's making you and Jason run the course twice over."

Cassie frowned, she wasn't expecting that. Now she was actually annoyed. Annabeth stood up and looked down at Cassie, "Well don't just lay there, you're expected to be in the arena in ten minutes."

She started to get up once Annabeth left, by the time Cassie had gone to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and hair, put on shorts and and a t-shirt, and had her Nike tennis shoe laced up, she was only half awake. Cassie stepped out of the barracks rubbing her eyes, not ready for the lesson, or for the sun that stung her eyes, but most of all, she wasn't ready for her brother to practically knock her over.

"Cassie!" Chris said in a rushed tone, "Do you have a sec? I _have _to talk to you."

"No actually-"

"Good," Chris continued, "I found something, about dad I mean, and Annabeth."

"Chris, I don't have time for this, I need to get to the arena, and I told you not to go digging around."

"Just listen," Chris said, putting his hands on Cassie's shoulders, "Dad and Annabeth used to be _together_. As in _together_, together. Like dad would do absolutely _anything_ to protect her."

If she wasn't so tired and out of it, Cassie would have laughed. Instead she starred blankly at her twin as if he were the craziest brother in the world. Her dad and Annabeth together? No way, there must have been some kind of mistake because something that drastic would never happen.

"That's ridiculous Chris, they can hardly stand each other. Whenever they're in the same room they can't get farther apart from each other. I think you need to check your sources." Cassie said annoyed, her time was being wasted by this false information.

"Cassie this is the truth!"

"The truth is Chris, I'm late. I'll see you later."


	8. Chapter 8

Chris watched Cassie walk away after he spilled the beans about Percy and Annabeth. How could she not believe him? Chris thought it was obvious why the two didn't like each other, they probably had a bad break up and were still bitter about it. What Chris couldn't figure out was why they had broken up, in the visions of the past that Lily had showed him the day before, it looked like Percy loved Annabeth a lot. Chris had decided to keep digging for information about his dad, but by the way Cassie didn't believe him, he also decided to keep it from her. There was no reason for him to try and make to effort for her to understand too if she wasn't going to believe him.

Chris jogged to the back of the barracks where all the guys and girls were lined up in four lines for the morning run. Every demigod was in workout clothes, but still waking up. The girls faced east on the trail, and the boys faced west. The morning run trail went around the whole camp, but stayed on the edge of the woods. The boys and girls ran in different directions so they could eventually intersect each other in the middle. The point of the morning run was to keep everyone fit, and to teach the young demigods the importance of timing. The two groups had to intersect each other at the same point at the same time, and end the run at the same time too. If they didn't accomplish these tasks, they would have to do it again. The example it was suppose to set was in a battle situation, if everyone wasn't in the right place at the correct time, the whole plan might be ruined.

Usually everyone made it on time, but this was the first morning run a lot of the campers had been on since the previous summer. The course was about two miles long, but sometimes the campers had to run it up to four times, which was definitely not fun. Though, Chris really didn't care about how many times he would have to run it, just that he could get a good look at Gabby. Was it weird that Chris liked her so much, and thought about her all year, if he hadn't really talked to her at all? Chris didn't mind it, but he wished he could get up the guts to talk to girls like his best friend, Rob, the son of Hermes.

Rob was next to Chris in line, stretching his quads. Rob was an amazing runner, being the son of the messenger god and all, he usually ran around camp all the time. Chris thought that one day he'd just never stop running. But Rob had many quirks. Like any good cross-country runner, he always wore those really embarrassing short shorts that male runners always wear with those light weight tank tops too. His outfits were usually pretty loud color wise too, never lacking neon.

"Are you looking for Gabby?" Rob said.

Chris quickly scoffed like it was a silly idea to be looking for a girl, "No."

"Have I ever told you that you're a terrible liar?"

"A couple times, yeah." Chris said guiltily, he _was_ a bad liar.

Chris heard the rumble of hooves stamping the ground, he turned and saw Chiron cantering up to the gender separated groups and stood in the middle. He always kicked off the morning run.

"Demigods," Chiron yelled, "Get into your four lines! Do not fall out of formation, both groups must stay on pace with each other and cross at Thalia's Tree at the same time as well as when you finish. Heroes on your ready!"

Chiron shot an exploding arrow into the air, with a loud BOOM and the half bloods were off. Chance was leading the morning run, everyone had to stay on pace with him, no one could go faster than the person in front of them or slower. Chris felt his feet pounding the ground under his Nikes, he shot a glance at Rob next to him. Rob had a light expression on his face, this was nothing to him. He could do this in his sleep, and a lot faster too. Chris focused, long runs weren't his specialty, he was better at short sprints for baseball.

Today, the girls were trailblazing, and once the boys emerged from the woods, they had to pick it up to keep up with them. Only in some parts of the course there were places you could see the other group to help you gauge where to be. Some of the guys in the back were huffing and puffing, out of shape from the nine months away from camp. Next to Chris, Rob was trying to start a conversation, but mostly he was talking to himself. Chris always wondered how he could talk like he was sitting down on a couch while running a mile, but all Rob did was run, run, run, all the time.

Chris could see Half-Blood Hill coming up, Thalia's Tree at the top. Soon enough they were running uphill, the girls a little ahead of them, but slowing down. Chris didn't know why, but that tree always creeped him out, it was a dead, black and burnt tree that marked the barrier of camp. Chris knew it symbolized the life of Thalia Grace, the daughter of Zeus, and Jason's half sister, but it was one scary looking tree. Chris didn't understand why a new tree couldn't be planted in it's place, or a lovely bench. But still it stood, shriveled and black.

Towards the top of the hill, Chris's legs started to burn, but he pushed through it. When the groups met, each line went in between the other, and everyone held their hands out so they gave each other high fives as they crossed the tree. Chris caught a glimpse of Gabby, she was towards the back of the girls group, on one of the outer lines. She was concentrating and sweaty, her ponytail swished back and forth. Chris tripped and bumped into the guy in front of him.

"Sorry." He said, Chris tried looking for her again, but Gabby was already making her way down the hill.

Beside him, Rob laughed, "Smooth."

"Shut up."

* * *

Cassie entered the arena, her sword in hand. She hadn't picked it up in a long time, she didn't think she would be fighting much after the quest, it felt a little heavy and unnatural in her hand now. A million thoughts about how awkward this training session would be were running through Cassie's head. Cassie decided she would play it cool, and act like the whole thing that morning never happened. She hoped Jason would do the same.

Cassie didn't see Jason anywhere in the arena though, which was strange because Jason was never late, and Cassie usually was. She decided to sit and wait in the bleachers where people usually watched matches or waited for training to start. Finally Jason walked into the training arena and closed the two huge doors behind him. Cassie stood as he started for her. However, there was something a lot different with him, he had two real legs and two real arms, which wasn't possible.

Cassie scratched her head, "Um, you look quite... whole."

"Oh," Jason looked down at his left arm and leg and wiggled them around. "They're a lot to get used to. Hephaestus made them for me a long time ago, they're bionic."

"They look so...real. Even the skin."

"Its an illusion, its not real skin. I don't like to wear them often unless I know I'll need the advantage." He said.

"What would you need an advantage for?"

In one swift movement Jason reached for Cassie's right arm and twisted it around her back and put a knife to her throat that Cassie hadn't seen him bring in.

"Like this." Cassie could feel Jason's hot breath next to her ear, his tight grip on her wrist and his muscular arm around her chest. "An attacker has a knife to your throat, what do you do?"

Normally Cassie would try to shift her weight and throw the attacker to her side, but sudden movements were hard with her prosthetic. "I don't know..." She said defeated.

"C'mon Cassie, you _do_ know, just trust your instincts." Jason tightened his grips and pulled her so tight it hurt.

Chris got all the instincts, Cassie thought, I just have...water. The lightbulb in her head lit up and she looked for the big orange Gatorade water jug in the corner. She focused on the cold water inside and forced it to move in such a way that the top unscrewed. A stream of water shot over to them, and Cassie made the water cover his hands. She then concentrated on making the water hotter and hotter until it was boiling and Jason was forced to let her go.

"Gods that hurt!" Jason said shaking his inevitably red hand away.

"I'm so sorry!" Cassie said, though she really wasn't. She grouped the water back into a bubble and cooled the temperature, she then brought the bubble over her hands and took Jason's burnt hand into hers. "Here. Feel any better?"

Jason looked down at his non bionic hand that was folded within Cassie's. "Yeah, it does." He slipped his hand from hers, and wiggled his healed fingers around, "I thought only Percy could do that."

"He taught me how, but he is a lot better at it." Cassie paused, speaking about Percy made her think about what Chris had said earlier, Jason was the perfect person to confirm the story. "Can I ask you something?"

"Um, it depends what its about."

"Well, Chris had some crazy idea that my dad and Annabeth used to be together, but thats crazy, right? I mean, they can't stand each other."

Jason looked down, "Actually..."

Cassie's face fell, "You have to be kidding me."

"I'm not. They were together for about a year before-" Jason stopped, not knowing how much he should tell her.

"Before what?" Cassie pushed.

"Before Percy left."

"I know he left, but why would he leave Annabeth?"

"Because Annabeth died. Or at least faked died or something. It's complicated, but it was the last straw, he left after she died."

"I'm so confused." Cassie said rubbing her temples. "If they were together, then why do they hate each other so much?"

Jason shook his head and looked up at the sky, he ducked his said and in low voice he said, "They don't hate each other, not even a little bit. They just put on a good show for the gods. I think the gods wanted them to get back together. Everyone thought they actually would, even me, but Percy really loves your mom. I guess he realized that being in love as a sixteen year old is different than being in love as an adult."

Cassie was silent for a moment, there was a question pounding through her head. What if they were secretly together? She thought. "Do you think there is still something between them?"

Jason debated telling her what he really thought and telling her what she wanted to hear, "I don't know, they went through a lot together, but that was a long time ago."

A bell sounded in the distance, signaling that the morning run was over, and it was time for breakfast. Cassie looked in the direction of the mess hall, then back to Jason. Suddenly she understood why Chris wanted information so badly, everything was a secret that only some people knew. The gods and the Camp directors were all hiding something, and it was time to find out.

"I need you to tell me everything." Cassie urged.

"What?"

"Everything you know about my dad's past, I need to you to tell me. Please."

Jason sighed, "I really think that's something you need to ask your dad, Cassie. If Percy wanted you to know, then he would have told you."

"So you're taking his side, you want me to stay in the dark about everything and just act like nothing is wrong?" Cassie asked.

"No-I mean, ugh. Okay fine. I didn't know your dad for very long back then, in reality we should have never met." Jason paused for a moment. He brought his face really close to hers which made Cassie really nervous for a second until she realized he was just going to whisper in her ear. "A long time ago, when I first got to this camp, I saw Annabeth going down into the bunker of the Big House. She was carrying a bunch of notebooks with Percy's name and handwriting on them."

"What exactly is the Big House?" Cassie asked.

Jason faced her again, "Basically the Meeting House just in a different place."

"So you think those notebooks might have answers," Jason nodded, "But how do I find them?"

"The Big House used to be right behind where the Meeting house is. The bunker was outside the back door, the bunker entrance was a wooden hatch in the ground. If you find it, I don't know how much of the things that were in there made it through the battle. I can't promise anything."

It was always hard for Cassie to remember that the camp used to be completely different. She had seen it when there was nothing there, but couldn't imagine it any different than it was then. She often saw her dad looking around in a nostalgic way, like he was seeing things that were no longer there. Sometimes Cassie could see that there used to be a building in one area because the land would change, there would be a divot in the ground or it was extremely uneven.

"Thank you, Jason." Cassie said quietly.

"Don't make me regret telling you this." He said, "And be careful, sometimes it's better not to know."

"Don't worry about me Jason." Cassie said.

With that she turned and headed outside the arena to the mess hall for breakfast. She had to tell Chris what Jason had said. The more Cassie found out about her dad, the more she realized how much he kept hiding from them. Cassie had always been curious, but now she needed answers.


	9. Chapter 9

As soon as Chris saw Cassie coming to the Poseidon table, he knew something was up. He could sense she was a little on edge, or curious, either way she was worked up about something. Chris's thoughts were confirmed when Cassie sat next to him on the table's bench, usually she sat across from him.

She leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I believe you. About dad."

"Really?" He asked, a little surprised.

Cassie looked around nervously, she was eyeing the directors table, where all the adults sat with Chiron. "Do you mind skipping breakfast? I need to tell you something important."

Chris looked around for Gabby, he was going to summon the courage to finally talk to her but he didn't see her sitting at the Aphrodite table. He figured it could wait, then he would have more time to plan what he was going to say to her.

"Yeah, I guess."

The two twins dodged out of the open air mess hall and scrambled to the other side of the camp to the Meeting House. They leaned up against the house's wall towards the back door. Chris stared at his sister who was looking at the area in a funny way, like she was trying to imagine something that wasn't there.

"Are you going to tell me what's up? Because I'm actually really hungry and would enjoy eating breakfast."

"Oh shut up." Cassie snapped. "I know that I disapproved of your little history project on dad but..."

"But?" Chris gave her a self satisfied smile, she looked at him like she would rather eat a fried rat than tell him.

Cassie rolled her eyes, "But curiosity got the best of me and I can help out."

"I knew you couldn't resist a little adventure sis." Chris said crossing his arms, "Give you a little bait and soon enough you're hooked. You've always been that way."

"Oh get over yourself."

"Fine, what do you have for me Casshole?"

Cassie punched Chris in the arm, she hated that her name provoked so many nicknames, Casshole was the worst, Chris loved to use it for obvious reasons.

"Dad's journals are buried somewhere around here." Cassie said.

"And you know this how?" Chris asked.

"I just do."

"Jason." Chris said, seeing right through her, Cassie didn't even try to deny it. The puzzle pieces weren't very hard to put together, they were together a lot. Sometimes Chris wondered if they had a little thing for each other but Chris always concluded that Jason was way out of Cassie's league and way too old for her.

"Anyways, they're suppose to be buried behind the Big House which was behind the Meeting House so they should be around..." Cassie walked about one hundred feet away from her brother counting each step. "Here."

Chris joined his sister and surveyed the land in front of them, it was pretty flat, the grass was a little on the dead side and the woods served as a barrier. "So, we just dig up the whole place? Real discreet Cass. I'm sure dad will never figure out what we're up to. Or Annabeth, or Chiron for that matter."

"Stop raining on my parade. Jason said they were in a bunker which opened by a latch. All we need to do is walk around until we feel an area that's hallow."

Chris crossed his arms again, looking back at the ground to see if he could find a more probable area that the bunker would be under than the rest. "Not bad sis, not bad."

"I guess we should get started then." Chris watched as his sister put two feet together and hopped around like a fish out of water, she was trying to hear for the hallow ground but Chris had a better idea.

"As much as I love watching you embarrass yourself Cassie, I'm going to tell you an easier way to do this." A smile settle on his face.

"And what could that possibly be?" She said, not understanding what else they could do to find it.

"Well," Chris cleared his throat before he proposed his plan, "You know how you can draw water from the ground? Just concentrate on that and find the place where there isn't any moisture, like a dry spot. That would be the bunker."

Cassie put her hands on her hips and looked at the ground in a calculating matter, "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're not me, obviously. You have the water, I have the brains." He said bluntly. In reality Cassie was a lot smarter than Chris but neither of them said anything about it.

"Haha so funny." Cassie fake laughed as she knelt to the grass, putting both of her hands to the soil.

She closed her eyes and soil wasn't well hydrated but she followed the moisture in the ground all around the area for five minutes. Cassie almost gave up when she sensed the blank spot. She had expected the bunker to be just a small little square room, but she followed the water around it and found that it was like a tunnel. She opened her eyes and looked in the direction that she found the spot, it was twenty feet to left, on the edge of the woods.

"You found it, didn't you?" Chris said.

"Yeah." Cassie gulped, she walked over and jumped over the spot and heard a big _thump_.

Chris's face broke out into a smile. "I'll go find some shovels."

"No you idiot," Cassie said grabbing his hand, "We need to wait until tonight, or else someone will see us."

Chris looked towards the Meeting House which is where all the directors lived, "Think we'll get caught? We'll be in deep shit if dad finds out we were snooping around."

"Depends on how much you want it. It was your idea in the first place Chris, but I've got your back bro, don't worry."

Chris thought, "Meet here at 1:30 am, wear all black, and be sneaky."

"Sounds like a deal." Cassie said with a mischievous smile on her face, the one she and Chris both inherited from their father.

They started to walk back to the mess hall to see if they could catch the last few minutes of breakfast. "Oh and Cass, you should really try to get closer to Jason, he is our key to dad's past since he was there for a lot of it."

"I don't think-"

"Just, you know," Chris nudged her a little, "Use your girly powers or something, bat your eyes a little at him. He may be immortal but he's not an emotional brick wall."

"Chris," Cassie blushed, "I think he has a girlfriend."

"Yeah right." Chris scoffed, "Who?"

"I don't know, he said something about a girl named Piper last night..." Cassie looked awkwardly at the ground, embarrassed about it all over again. She still couldn't believe he called her by the name of another girl. It was rude, but obviously an accident. However, it still stung. Any smidgen of hope that Jason might of had feelings for her had evaporated.

"Piper." Chris said, thinking, he recognized the name. "I've seen her before."

"Are you serious?" Cassie's heart sank, she was here at camp and had no idea. How naive could she be?

"Yeah, remember this morning when I told you about how dad and Annabeth used to be together? Well a naiad showed me it and Piper was there too, she was trying to calm dad down, she could control people with her words. She was really pretty too, but she wasn't covered in make up, she was naturally beautiful-"

"Not helping Chris." Cassie said, feeling worse about her constant need to have mascara on at all times or concealer under her eyes to cover the signs of the nightmares that kept her up at night.

"Right. Sorry." Chris said. "But I mean, that was a really long time ago Cassie. Piper would have to be really old like dad by now."

Chris thought of the more probable answer in which Piper was dead, but he decided not to say anything because it didn't feel right. All the campers hated feeling like there was an impending doom upon them that time would settle soon. It was all to aware amongst them that most heroes never made it to adulthood. Also all the ancient stories weren't very reassuring either, in the end, usually everyone dies.

As the conversation approached a maximum point of awkwardness, Chris decided to change the subject, "So, what convinced you that I was right? About dad and Annabeth I mean."

Cassie sighed, "I asked Jason about it, and sure enough, you were right."

Chris shrugged, obviously proud of himself, "What did he tell you?"

"Not much, just that they were together for a year before dad left because Annabeth died or something." She said, it wasn't much, Jason wasn't interested in sharing more. "What about you? What did the naiad show you, exactly?"

Chris explained what he saw, but left out the part about Percy almost killing that one guy. "It's so weird picturing dad and Annabeth together even though I saw them kiss, which I'm still a little creeped out about. And by the way, dad can _not_ rock the shaggy hair look at all. I just don't understand why they dislike each other so much."

"That's what I was confused about too, but Jason said that if they don't act like that, the gods might try to force them together. In other words... get rid of mom." Cassie explained.

"Do you think the gods would actually do that? Would Poseidon agree to do that to us?"

"Maybe. I don't know. When I met him he wasn't very happy with dad's life choices, or with us." Cassie didn't like to think about her meeting with her grandfather much because she was half dying and missing a leg at the time. "The gods can do whatever they want Chris, we don't really have a choice."

"I know, I know. Can we not talk about this anymore?" Chris asked, looking up at the sky nervously.

They walked together in silence to the mess hall, which campers were starting to flood out of to start daily activities. Today Chris and Cassie were suppose to the pegasus stables and ride a bit but Rob jogged up to them before they got the chance to even go.

Rob was in his in his stunning pink shorts that showed off his muscular legs. "Hey Cassie," He said with a sly smile and a wink.

Cassie blushed and Chris wondered how he could talk to girls so smoothly without even thinking about it. Chris knew he had a thing for his sister but he also knew his sister had no interest in Rob so it was pretty amazing that he managed to get her all self conscious so quickly. Though, Rob had a natural way of talking to people because he was the son of Hermes and everything.

"Hey Rob," Cassie said, "I love those shorts."

Rob looked down, "Thanks, picked them out just for you babe."

Cassie laughed a little, "Well I better go, I'll see you two later."

Cassie left them and headed to gods know where. Rob watched as she left, and did a little fist pump along with a small dance.

"Now talked to Cassie, we're going to find Gabby because what I just did was actually amazing." Rob gazed back at Cassie who was still walking away, "Gods your sister is so hot, is that weird? I can say that, right? Do you think you can hook us up? No, I should just go up to her right now, just run up to her and ask her out." Chris was enjoying Rob stumble over himself and talk really fast because he only did it when he was nervous, which was never. "Wait. Don't just sit there and try to avoid my original objective. We are finding Gabby, and you are talking to her."

Chris wished he was talking about his sister again to get him off the topic, "What would you even do on a date with my sister anyways?"

"Well first I'd pick her up outside of the girls barracks and we would head down to the beach to watch the sun set over the hills, and then I would seduce her with my brilliantly bright pink shorts and make sweet love to her. And don't think that you're going to make me forget about Gabby."

Rob was really good at changing the conversation but he never forgot about the other ones. When Rob talked, his ADHD senses went on overdrive, kind of like when he ran. All of a sudden Rob started tapping Chris's arm and was looking at something behind Chris.

"What?" Chris asked, turning around.

He saw her. Gabby was walking straight towards them with a couple of her sisters, Mary and Laurel. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and Chris could see her violet eyes from a mile away, her legs were tanned and long in jean shorts and she wore a light purple shirt that said something about her school's homecoming. Chris could hardly keep his jaw from dropping. She was so pretty.

"Play cool." Rob said, so of course he started stretching like he was about to go running, which wasn't playing cool at all.

"What are you doing?" Chris shot with a whisper.

"Stretching, duh."

Chris saw he had no other option but to play along, he started stretching his arms like he would for baseball, swinging them in circle ten times then ten times in the opposite direction. Eventually Gabby and her sisters got closer and closer and just as they were about thirty feet away, Laurel whispered something in her ear and Gabby laughed and nodded, and the three sisters started walking to the beach as if they didn't even see Chris or Rob stretching in the middle of the lawn.

Once they were gone Rob put a hand on Chris's shoulder, "So I can help you get over her now, or later when she actually breaks your heart."

Chris watched the three as they got smaller and smaller, any hope of ever asking Gabby went down the drain. He was so stupid for thinking he might have had a chance. His dad was right, Aphrodite girls were dangerous. The shy guy never wins.

Chris sighed, "Preferably now."


	10. Chapter 10

That night, as Cassie snuck out of the door closest to her bed, she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit guilty and nervous about spying on her dad's life. But she couldn't help herself. It began to bug her the more she thought about how much she really _didn't_ know her father. She knew that most of her friends didn't really know their parents either, but this was different. Percy wasn't a god. The grey area between what Cassie knew about her father and what she didn't was entirely too vast. So as she took off to the Meeting House to find Chris, her guilt started to wane.

When Cassie found Chris, he was pressed against the meeting house with two shovels at his side. The two twins wore matching black clothing, hoping it would help them be extra stealthy. All of the lights in the Meeting House were out, meaning that Chiron, Percy, Annabeth, and Jason were all asleep.

Cassie moved into position. That is, where she found the hollow spot in the ground earlier that day.

"Here." She said to Chris in a loud whisper.

Chris just nodded and stuck his shovel into the ground, carving out a three by three square around where the hatch should have ben. The began to carefully dig under that patch of grass until they could lift it up in one piece. The plan was to put it back once they were done so no one noticed the disturbance in the land.

The two shoveled away at the dirt until Chris heard a big _clunk!_ when he was getting a scoop of dirt. The twins froze out of paranoia, thinking the noise was too loud. Their eyes were trained on the Meeting House, waiting for the lights to flicker on. But they never did. Chris and Cassie looked at each other and nervously kept digging. They uncovered more and more the wooden door of the bunker until there was no more dirt to uncover.

Chris took a deep breath before he reached down for the brass ring handle, and lifted in up. Cassie took out her flashlight and shined it down into the pitch black hole revealing an old metal ladder. She pumped her fist and smiled, the bunker was really there. She motioned for Chris to go down the ladder first and he took the flashlight with him.

It didn't hit her until she was staring at Chris at the bottom, but Cassie had no idea how she could conquer that ladder with her fake leg. Realizing her struggle, Chris looked up at her from the bottom and held out his arms.

"I'll catch you." Chris said.

Cassie looked around. No one would be around to help her if she couldn't get back up. Getting out would definitely be easier than getting down but by the way the rickety old rusted ladder was looking, it still wasn't going to be a breeze. But then she remembered her mission and jumped. A moment of weightlessness was followed by the thud of her torso against Chris's arms. At that moment Cassie was glad that her brother was a major gym junkie. He set her down on the ground and the too surveyed to bunker.

The ladder marked the start of the room, but it was a small room, ten feet by ten feet easily. But there was a small tunnel in the wall adjacent from the ladder. Though, as Chris and Cassie looked around, they found that their digging was useless because the bunker was empty.

Chris sighed, "We tried Cass."

"Who said we were done here? Cassie said, nodding towards he tunnel.

Chris shook his head, "There's no way I'm going down that tunnel, its bad enough we're in some abandoned bunker."

Cassie rolled her eyes, "Come on Chris, do you really want to walk away thinking we did all that digging for nothing?" Chris sighed once again and Cassie snatched the light from his hand. "Let the cripple lead the way."

Cassie never understood how she got such a sudden burst of courage and adventure, but it was fun, and she liked it. She had one hand gripping her brother's hand so he didn't bail on her, and the on the light. About a minute of slow walking through the narrow tunnel with cobwebs constantly getting in her face, Cassie turned a corner and stifled a scream.

"What?" Chris said, he looked over her shoulder and tried not cringe.

The twins found themselves staring at about twelve skeletons. Each was wearing armor, and they were armed with bows and arrows. All of the bodies had their mouths open and it looked as if they had died screaming. None of them wore clothes though, and their bones were blackened, like they had been burned.

Cassie looked at the skeleton at her feet and cringed. It wasn't like the others, the body was clutching a shield with something so horrendous on it that she couldn't look at it. She looked at her brother, "We should go."

"Yeah," Chris said, nodding quickly, "That would be nice."

They turned to retrace their streps when, out of nowhere, a man stepped out from the wall. Literally. He had a scruffy black beard and a baggy pale face. Despite the fact that they were underground, he wore aviator sunglasses. The man looked Percy's age, but maybe a little younger. He wore a black leather jacket and pants with snakeskin boots. He cracked knuckles and Chris noticed that he had many skull rings. Though Chris and Cassie had never seen someone die, they could feel death radiating off of the man in front of them.

"Boo." He said.

Cassie screamed and Chris was frozen in fear. The man chuckled as if he scared teenagers in bunkers all the time.

"Who are you." Chris's voice shook as he formed the words.

The man smiled and laughed again, "I never thought I would meet the children of Percy Jackson, especially not in a place like this." He held out his hand like there was nothing wrong, like he hadn't just scared the life out of them just moments before. "I'm Nico. And you are not suppose to be here."

Neither Chris or Cassie shook his hand and Nico put it back at his side. They didn't ask Nico how he knew who they were because they were used to it by now.

"Why not?" Chris asked.

Nico seemed to straighten up a bit, "Nobody is suppose to disturb the body of Thalia Grace."

"Hold up," Cassie said, confused, "Like _the_ Thalia Grace? The one with the creepy tree on top of Half-Blood Hill?"

"Yes, the daughter of Zeus, Jason's half-sister."

There was a silence. Cassie thought about the shriveled up pine tree that looked like it had been set on fire. In a way it was the camp symbol, as creepy as it was. Percy said that it used to protect the camp boarders, but now that camp boarder was extended to the bottom of the hill, and the tree was just there for show. Or because it was there in Thalia's memory. Either way, no one wanted to chop it down.

"What happened down here?" Cassie asked. "And why do I get the feeling that it has to do something with the pine tree?"

Nico looked at the ground and crossed his arms as if he was debating if he should tell them. Cassie got the feeling that Nico was actually a nice guy, he just liked to scare people and walk out of walls and dress like a gaudy old biker. Due to their similarity in age, she got the feeling that he and her dad used to know each other. How else would he have known that they were Percy's kids?

"Well, first of all, for a few years, Thalia's soul was trapped inside the tree on Half-Blood Hill, until Percy accidentally freed her. Anyways when she was back she became one of Artemis's huntresses, but apart of her was still trapped in the tree. When she was leading some of the hunters across the camp during a battle, and some fire-breathing monster spewed it's fire down the entrance. As she died, so did the tree, and the camp's boarders were eliminated. Zeus assigned me the glorious task of protecting her body, since the camp was too cursed afterwards for anyone to collect it." He paused. "I would tell you more but I get the feeling I have told you too much. I know what you are feeling though. It's like everyone is keeping secrets from you and you don't know why. I know that you think you can handle it, but you actually can't. It's a typical thing for a half-blood to go through, even though you two aren't even half god."

"You're the son of Hades, aren't you?" Chris said.

"What gave it away?" Nico smirked, "Look, your dad and I used to be close, but there are still questions I would never ask him. And I wouldn't go digging for them either. I know you're looking for the journals because there isn't any other reason you could possibly be down here. But we took everything out of here before the battle, Sally has them now. Percy probably told her to get rid of them or something really dramatic because he didn't want to think about them anymore. But you didn't hear any of this from me."

Chris and Cassie looked at each other, there was still a chance that there journals were out there. Even better, their grandma had them, which only involved a quick trip to the city and a little bit of sweet talking. The two still felt disappointed that they did all that work just to find out that the journals had been moved. Cassie turned to thank Nico, but he was gone. A chill was sent down her spine and she didn't feel comfortable being in the tunnel where all those deaths had taken place.

"Lets get out of here." Chris said.

Cassie nodded and the two ran out of the tunnel and back to the small room where Chris helped his sister back up the ladder. Cassie was so glad to be able to see the stars again and breath fresh air without the claustrophobic feeling of being underground.

"So," Chris said once they had covered up the hole again, "I think it's time to give grandma a visit."


	11. Chapter 11

The next day Percy woke up sweating. He couldn't remember anything about his dream but it had been scary enough to jolt him awake. He sat up in his bed and turned on his bedside lamp, noticing an envelope next to his water on the nightstand. Percy took a sip of water and picked up the envelope, embossed on the front it said his name is Ancient Greek lettering. He knew what it was for but opened it anyways.

Inside there was a card that said, "Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, please join the gods at the Temple of Artemis for the Summer Solstice Ball at 7 pm on June 21. Sincerely, the Olympians." Short and hardly sweet, at least they said please when they summoned him to Olympus these days.

The gods started the Solstice Ball about ten years ago. There were two parties a year, one on the winter solstice and another on the summer solstice. It was a 'celebration of life' because the lives of the gods had been close to death too many times in such a small time frame. Percy only attended the summer ball because he liked to try and spend more time with his family in the winter than on Olympus The solstice was in a week. Percy ran his hands through his short, salt and pepper hair. He would have to go home today and pick up his tuxedo, and check up on Veronica after breakfast.

Percy heard Annabeth's 5:30 am alarm go off in the next room, it shut off as quickly as it had turned on. He didn't understand how she could work so hard all day and still wake up so early. Percy looked out the window next to his small, twin sized bed, the sun was already coming up in the east. The days were so long this time of year. He rubbed his eyes and got up, heading to the bathroom for a quick shower. As he stepped out of his room he ran straight into Annabeth, who was looking down at her iPod before her morning run.

"Oh, sorry." He said, backing away.

"It's okay," She looked down at the ground. "Did you get your invitation?"

"Yeah. They even asked nicely, I feel so honored." Percy smiled and so did Annabeth. Their eyes locked and Percy noticed that the intensity of Annabeth's grey eyes hadn't faded since the first day they met. "Um, so last year I didn't really like riding Blackjack back here after the Ball in my tux and everything so I was wondering if I could just crash on the couch at your place or something? It's okay if you don't want me to, I won't be hurt."

She blushed a little, "That would be fine, my house on Olympus has been neglected lately, it needs visitors. Besides, Jason is doing the same thing."

"Great." Percy said, an awkward silence passed, "Well, I'll let you go for your run."

As Percy watched Annabeth pass him and go down the hallway he couldn't help but think that their conversations were never as easy going as they had been when they were kids. Everything was so serious now that they were adults and it just made being around her awkward. He hated it. He wanted to be able to talk to Annabeth about anything like he used to and something just wouldn't let that happen.

Percy moved into the bathroom and cleaned up, shaving his face and brushing his teeth after a shower. He pulled on a cotton shirt and a pair of shorts and headed to the kitchen of the Meeting House. Annabeth had started to brew a pot of coffee before she left on her run so Percy poured himself a cup and sat down on the porch to read the paper and watch the sun rise higher over the Atlantic.

Even though Percy had resigned as the CEO of IntelliBuild, he still liked to check up on it. Sometimes there were articles in the paper about how IntelliBuild skyscrapers and buildings were winning awards for being environmentally friendly or for its technological advancements never before seen in buildings. Nothing was in the paper today about it but the weather was forecasted to be sunny all week.

Soon enough Percy saw Annabeth walking towards Meeting House, done with her run and with waking up the campers. Chiron emerged from the house in his wheelchair, ready for the day.

"Hey Chiron is there a strawberry delivery that needs to be made today? I need to head home today but I can make the deliveries while I'm on the area." Percy offered.

"Why yes, I will have some campers load up the van before breakfast and you can leave afterwards."

Percy nodded and turned back to his paper. The stock market was down and the construction on the United Nation's building was creating too much traffic in the area. Percy hardly noticed as Annabeth collapsed into the chair across from him. She was tired from her run, she had a habit of pushing herself too hard.

"Need help with those deliveries?"Annabeth asked after taking a break.

Percy folded the paper down so he could see her, "Only if your up to it." He said because she looked seriously exhausted.

"Yeah sure, I'll go freshen up and meet you at breakfast."

Time seemed to pass really slowly between breakfast and when the campers were done with their morning run. As Percy ate his scrambled eggs at the head table with Chiron, Jason, Annabeth, and Argus, he looked over at his kids at the Poseidon table. They were picking over their food, hardly touching it. They looked bummed out for some reason and Cassie looked tired from the workout with Jason that morning. Jason said that they had to work on her balance more, and her ability to move quickly on her fake leg.

The fact that Cassie had lost her leg on the quest the summer before killed Percy, that was the exact type of thing that he was scared of happening when he was forced back into the world of the gods. He looked at Chris, who was so strong and in control of himself which was something Percy lacked at his age. Percy always thought of the two of them being much more brave than he ever was. He would have self-destructed if he had lost half of his leg like Cassie, and he could never have been as level headed as Chris. This made him so proud of them.

After breakfast Percy went over to their table and asked them if they needed anything from the house. The two looked at each other and shook their heads but told him to say hello to Veronica for them. Percy headed over to the strawberry fields where the delivery vans were parked. The strawberry fields was one of the only things that had stayed from the original Camp Half-Blood so many years ago.

Chance was loading the last of the strawberry crates into the back of the van, Annabeth was leaning against it, talking to him as he worked. Even though it took a while for Chance to warm up to him, Percy figured out that Chance was the son of Dionysus which was the reason why he never liked to talk about his dad. Dionysus was still the partier and the drunk which didn't make him a very desirable father. But Chance still liked to help out in the strawberry fields with Miranda.

Chance shut the double doors of the vans and Percy said, "All ready to go?"

Annabeth turned around, "We were just waiting for you."

"You wanna come with?" Percy asked Chance.

He looked between Annabeth and Percy like it was bad idea to leave them alone together because they might rip each others hair out or something. "Naw, I'm hanging out with Miranda and she would kill me if I bailed."

Percy smiled, and patted Chance's back, "That's understandable, thanks for loading up the vans. We'll see you later."

"Bye guys." Chance walked away and Annabeth held up the keys.

"Do you want me to drive or do you want to?" She asked.

"You can, it gives me a chance to take a break."

Annabeth climbed in the drivers seat, moving up the seat because the last person who drove was unnaturally tall. The van smelled rich with the scent of strawberries and Percy had half a mind just to start eating them all. When they left camp they could finally drop the "hate each other" act. The two talked about architecture and the new technologies that had been developed over the years. Percy remembered the days when he hated talking to Annabeth about architecture because she would go on and on and on, but now he understood her fascination and could talk about it with her.

They made their delivery at the Whole Foods in the Hamptons and collected the money for the camp and filled up the gas tank. On their way back, Percy drove.

"I just have to stop at home to pick up my tux for the Summer Solstice Ball. It will only take a second." Percy said.

Annabeth stayed real quiet on the ride to Percy's house. The thought of Veronica, always made her go quiet because in the back of her mind she always thought that it should be herself Percy was going home to.

They drove up the coast of Long Island and into the country side. The houses along the beach got farther and farther apart until they were about a quarter mile apart. The people who lived in these houses purchased the land around it so contractors couldn't build more and they could have privacy. Percy's house was one of these houses, but his was a modestly sized two-story house. It was pale blue with a wrap around porch and white shutters. The grass in the front lawn had sand it from the beach on it's boarder. The expanse of ocean was quiet and serene.

"I'll be right back, it will only take a second." Percy said, parking the van in his driveway, "You can come in if you like, if you need to use the bathroom or something."

"It's okay, thanks though." Annabeth said with a weak smile.

Percy turned and walked up to the front door, unlocking it with the spare key under the mat. He walked in but left the door open, taking off his shoes. there was a stair case to the right of him that lead to the bedrooms. Looking down the hall Percy could see the dining table in front of the sliding glass window. He walked down the hall and turned to right of the table into the kitchen.

Percy noticed two envelopes on the table. One was small and white that had Percy's name written on it in loopy cursive. It was Veronica's handwriting. The other one was a big manilla envelope. Percy used his keys to open the small white one. There was one piece of paper inside. It was a note.

_Percy,_

_I don't know when you will get this but the sooner the better I guess. I don't know how to say this so I'll just say it. The Mayo Clinic branch in Rochester, Minnesota offered me a job that I cannot resist. I would have turned it down if this had happened two years ago, but things have changed and so have we. I just can't live like this anymore, I'm always worried and..._

Percy couldn't read it anymore. He tore open the manilla envelope and pulled out the multiple pieces of paper inside. Divorce papers. All of the legal mumbo jumbo was sorted out already. Veronica had been planning this for a long time. Percy shuffled through them, on the last page the name Veronica Keegan-Johnson was signed in big loopy letters that had signed so many prescription pads and forms before that one. Anger rose in his chest. Percy tore through the drawers looking for a pen, when he found one he quickly scribbled the name Peter Johnson because that was still his legal name. He stuffed the handwritten note into his back pocket and the divorce papers back into the big envelope which was already filled out and ready to be sent.

"So be it." Percy said in disgust.

In the corner of his eye he saw saw a little vase on the counter that was there for decoration, Percy took it and threw it against the wall. It shattered and clamored to the floor. He ran his hands through his hair. How could this be happening? How could thirteen years of marriage just walk out without any warning? At the same time Percy knew this was a possibility, though it still stung with anger. He had expected heartbreak for this moment, but all he felt was anger. He was angry because he wasn't heartbroken. Was that why Veronica left him?

He opened the sliding glass door and headed down to the beach. The wind was already start to pick up and the waves crashing down were getting bigger and more aggressive to match Percy's mood.

He wadded knee deep into the water. Percy's senses surged forward and the ocean started to react with his emotions. The wind whipped around in a circle around him and the water became choppy, rain started to fall. Percy was just so angry that his marriage was gone. Did it make him a terrible husband-soon to be ex-husband-that he didn't notice that Veronica was miserable? As far as Percy knew, Veronica loved it on Long Island, she got to see the kids more because she didn't work and the weather was lovely. But she was gone. Poof. She didn't take anything but her car and her clothes.

He decided he wasn't going to run after her. It wasn't worth it. She would never him back, therefore he didn't want her. Percy heard his name being called out of the wind. He looked to see Annabeth working through the storm he had created. Her blonde hair was blowing in every direction. Looking at her wading through the waves, Percy knew why he wouldn't run after Veronica.

"Percy," She said gently, loud enough for him to hear over the storm but soft enough for it to be sincere. She took his hand and looked him in the eye, "It's going to be okay."

And he believed her.


End file.
